Nigel Farage today vowed to introduce US-style raids to track down illegal immigrants living in Britain.
It was part of a tough plan unveiled by the Reform UK leader to deport as many as 600,000 if he wins power.
According to Mr. Farage’s plans, immigration enforcement squads would carry out ‘large-scale raids’ akin to the operations by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Donald Trump’s tenure, aimed at ‘persistently identifying and detaining all illegal migrants’.
He also disclosed that women and children who arrive in the UK via small boats would face detention and removal alongside men, with a pledge of up to five deportation flights departing daily and efforts to secure return agreements with countries worldwide, including a possible deal with Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Mr. Farage labeled the crossing of 180,000 people across the Channel since the onset of the crisis as an ‘invasion’, and accused both the UK and French governments of ‘colluding in support of criminal activity’ because the Border Force returns life jackets to the French for future use in crossings.
He asserted that he was the ‘last hope’ for halting illegal migration following Rishi Sunak’s ‘stop the boats’ initiative deemed a ‘total failure’ and claimed Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘smash the gangs’ strategy was ‘never going to work’.
This declaration coincided with the latest Home Office records indicating that over the Bank Holiday weekend, an additional 871 migrants arrived in 13 boats, raising the total number since Labour’s electoral victory to more than 52,000.
Speaking at Oxford airport on a stage highlighted with imitation departure boards for deportation flights, Mr. Farage stated: ‘The only solution to stop the boats is by detaining and deporting anyone who arrives through this method.
Nigel Farage (pictured at the launch of Reform UK’s plan to deport asylum seekers on Tuesday) has vowed to introduce US-style raids to track down illegal immigrants living in Britain
Mr Farage, on a stage adorned with mock departure boards for deportation flights, said he would detain and deport ‘absolutely anyone’ that comes to Britain via small boat
The Reform leader’s plans are similar to the crackdown by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Donald Trump (pictured)
‘If we do that, the boats will stop coming within days, because there will be no incentive to pay a trafficker to get into this country.’
And, after a weekend that saw dozens of protests against asylum hotels, he warned: ‘The mood in the country around this issue is a mix between total despair and rising anger.
‘Without action, without somehow the contract between the Government and the people being renewed, without some trust coming back, then I fear deeply that that anger will grow.
‘In fact, I think there is now, as a result of this, a genuine threat to public order.’
At the major policy launch, Reform UK produced an eight-page guide to ‘Operation Restoring Justice’, described as a ‘five-year emergency programme’ it would enact if it wins the next election.
It would combine an ‘uncompromising legal reset’ – involving the repeal of human rights laws and Britain’s withdrawal from major international treaties – with a ‘relentless foreign policy campaign’ to agree returns deals.
Under a new UK Deportation Command, all illegal migrants would be held and deported, including those already living here.
A ‘cutting edge’ Illegal Migrant Identification Centre would ‘automatically share’ data between the Home Office, police, NHS, HMRC and DVLA to find those working in the black market.
Mr Farage produced an eight-page guide to ‘Operation Restoring Justice’, which was described as a ‘five-year emergency programme’ Reform would enact if it wins power
Mr Farage warned that ‘the mood in the country around this issue is a mix between total despair and rising anger’
Mr Trump has given ICE teams extra numbers, powers and hardware to combat the estimated 11million illegal population in the United States. The Trump administration says more than 127,000 individuals have been deported since the blitz began.
Before Reform’s ‘large-scale raids’ would begin, however, those with no right to live in the UK would be given six months in which to take advantage of ‘voluntary returns’, using a smartphone app to arrange a free flight home and £2,500.
Secure Immigration Removal Centres will be built to house up to 24,000 detainees before they can be returned, with Mr Farage confirming: ‘Yes, women and children, everybody on arrival will be detained.’
Reform said its plan would cost only £10billion over five years and would save £42billion over a decade as asylum hotels are closed and the burden on Border Force reduced – figures that came under scrutiny.
Downing Street stopped short of criticising the detail of Mr Farage’s plans – and even suggested the Government could seek its own deals with pariah regimes such as the Taliban.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters: ‘We’re not going to take anything off the table in terms of striking returns agreements with countries around the world.’
Mr Trump has given ICE teams (pictured on a street in Chicago, Illinois) extra numbers, powers and hardware to combat the estimated 11million illegal population in the United States
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters that they were ‘not going to take anything off the table in terms of striking returns agreements with countries around the world’
No 10 did rule out leaving the European Convention on Human Rights. Labour Party chairman Ellie Reeves said: ‘Nigel Farage can’t say where his detention centres will be, can’t say what will happen to women and children, and can’t say how he’ll convince hostile regimes like Iran to take people back.’
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: ‘Farage’s “immigration plan” looks very familiar. We set out our Deportation Bill months ago. He’s copied our homework but missed the lesson.’
And while Reform vowed to pull out of the ECHR and repeal the Human Rights Act, lawyers said asylum-seekers would still have legal redress and the entire scheme could be challenged under judicial review.
Tonight, in a blow to Sir Keir’s hopes of cutting the Channel crossings, it was reported that the potential collapse of the French government could jeopardise plans for gendarmes to enter the water to stop migrant boats.
The Times said the tougher French maritime law is at risk as a result of a confidence vote in the minority administration of PM Francois Bayrou next month. The law allows French officers to thwart departures within 300 yards of the shore.
