Reform UK unveils controversial deportation plans reminiscent of Donald Trump's policies, sparking fierce criticism from opposition parties and human rights advocates. The proposals threaten to reshape Britain's approach to immigration with aggressive deportation tactics, stricter rules, and divisive policies.
Reform's home affairs chief, Zia Yusuf, announced the party's intention to establish a new agency called the UK Deportation Command.
Inspired by the US's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), this body would have the power to detain over 20,000 people simultaneously. Yusuf claims it could remove up to 6,000 individuals weekly, a jump in capacity that would require a significant expansion of detention facilities.
Yusuf described the agency as a necessary step to tackle what he called an 'invasion' of the UK, a word that drew immediate backlash.
'I know many in the establishment gasp at that word,'he said, adding,'They may well clutch their pearls in the television studios, but the dictionary definition of invasion is an incursion by a large number of people in an unwanted way.'
Charity groups like Freedom from Torture condemned these plans.
Natasha Tsangarides called Yusuf's speech 'a grotesque display of ethno-nationalist, authoritarian cruelty,' warning that these policies could tear families apart and create chaos in communities.
'His divisive and dangerous proposals threaten to divide families and wreak terror and chaos in our communities,' she added.
Other groups,such as the Work Rights Centre, also condemned the plan as a 'sadistic vision' that would rip communities apart.
Yusuf's roadmap includes scrapping indefinite leave to remain (ILR), replacing it with a five-year renewable work visa that demands higher salaries. This move could strip tens of thousands of legal immigrants of their right to live and work freely in Britain.
Source: International Business Times UK
