The Home Office has taken a leaf out of Donald Trump’s playbook by employing bold social media strategies to showcase its immigration crackdown. This approach debuted with the launch of the Secure Borders UK account on TikTok, featuring a confrontational video clip.

The account, introduced on Tuesday, kicked off with a 20-second video depicting individuals being detained. The footage is accompanied by immigration enforcement statistics and a stern message: “It’s just getting started.” The video sets the tone for the account’s direct approach.

Other videos on the account continue this theme, showing scenes of people in handcuffs being escorted onto deportation flights, newly arrived detainees at a detention center, and a montage of various detainees. These visuals are enhanced by intense, dramatic music, adding to the dramatic flair.

The individuals featured in these videos reportedly include foreign nationals being deported after being convicted of crimes in the UK, underscoring the government’s hardline stance.

The Home Office defends its assertive social media presence by citing the need to combat what it describes as “fake news superspreaders” who question the government’s immigration policies. This move comes in response to a reported 61 percent increase in immigration-related videos on TikTok.

Last year, 41,472 migrants crossed the English Channel, marking the second-highest number on record. This figure represents a 13 percent increase from 2024, when 36,816 migrants undertook the perilous journey, highlighting the ongoing challenges in managing immigration.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp labelled the videos a ‘pathetic gimmick’, adding: ‘The idea that putting some posts on TikTok will stop illegal immigrants is laughable – just like the Government’s previous gimmick to smash the gangs.’ 

The Home Office has launched a new TikTok account that aims to deter people from trying to reach the UK

The videos include statistics about Labour’s record on immigration, overlaid on footage of people being removed from Britain

The first clip on the Secure Borders UK account features the ominous warning that enforcement action is ‘just getting started’

AntiNatasha Tsangarides, associate director of advocacy at anti-torture group Freedom from Torture, told the Daily Mail: ‘This Trump-style populist messaging is designed to divide, dehumanise and stoke fear. 

‘At a time when the UK should be showing global leadership by upholding international law, politicians are using performative cruelty. 

‘This kind of content only risks fuelling hostility and violence, rather than bringing communities together. 

‘The Government should use its platform to unite the country and promote a more hopeful, compassionate approach to people seeking sanctuary.’

The Secure Borders UK account’s editing style bears a remarkable similarity to that used of The White House, which has adopted a provocative messaging style across social media. 

The Trump administratio’s TikToks feature brash videos of ICE agents on patrol set to pop music, while last year it was criticised for creating AI-generated images of crying migrants as characters in a Studio Ghibli animated film on X.

Reaction to the Home Office videos has been negative on TikTok itself, where the vast majority of UK users are younger and, research has suggested, more likely to be left-leaning. 

Imran Hussain, director of external affairs at the Refugee Council, said: ‘Tough-talking TikToks may get some headlines, but there is very little evidence that these kinds of messages work.’

Mr Hussain pointed out that the majority of asylum returns are voluntary, rather than enforced: 27,075 voluntary removals, compared to 9,382 enforced departures for the year ending September 2025, per official Home Office statistics.

Reaction to the Home Office TikTok has been overwhelmingly negative among the video service’s largely younger users

He added: ‘Supporting people to leave with dignity is the best way of increasing the removals of those who have been found to have no right to stay here after a fair hearing.’

The Home Office said this week it had arrested over 12,000 illegal workers in Labour’s first 18 months after staging almost 17,500 enforcement raids.

In all, 12,322 alleged illegal workers were arrested, up from 6,725 in the previous 18 months – hauled out of nail bars, restaurants, car washes and barber shops. But so far, only 1,725 of those arrested – one in seven – have been deported from Britain. 

it is understood that £74million has been recouped from asylum contracts, and that both the number of asylum hotels being used and the amount being spent has fallen since July 2023.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said this week of the latest figures: ‘There is no place for illegal working in our communities.

‘That is why we have surged enforcement activity to the highest level in British history so illegal migrants in the black economy have nowhere to hide.

‘I will stop at nothing to restore order and control to our borders.’