Reform UK has unveiled plans for a UK Deportation Command, which would have striking similarities with Donald Trump’s deeply divisive ICE agency
Reform UK has been accused of a “grotesque display of ethno-nationalist, authoritarian cruelty” after announcing plans for a Donald Trump-style deportation force.
Zia Yusuf, Nigel Farage’s pick to be Home Secretary, claimed his controversial UK Deportation Command would be able to detain more than 20,000 people at a time. It would be modelled on Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has created huge fractures across the US.
Mr Yusuf also plans to rip up Indefinite Leave to Remain, meaning thousands of legal migrants could be deported. He told a press conference in Dover, Kent, that an RAF plane would be on constant standby to help removals.
Natasha Tsangarides, of charity Freedom from Torture, said: “Yusuf’s speech was a grotesque display of ethno-nationalist, authoritarian cruelty. His divisive and dangerous proposals threaten to divide families and wreak terror and chaos in our communities.”
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She added of the people the charity supports: “They know from their own experience that this kind of political theatre brings only hate and division; it’s a further advance of the populist playbook that demonises migrants to grab power and erode legal safeguards.
“And we don’t need to look that far to see how this approach – demonstrated with ruthless brutality by the ICE raids on US streets – have ripped through communities and made everyone unsafe.”
Mr Yusuf said the new unit would be set up to track down, detain and deport migrants for removal. He claimed up to 288,000 people would be deported every year – and doubled down on describing illegal migration as an invasion.
Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, said: “The UK does not need or want a British version of ICE. Proposals to mirror the United States through mass detention and rapid deportations risk unleashing a system built on fear, aggressive raids and discrimination, where enforcement operates with sweeping powers and too little accountability.
“That is not security. It is a blueprint for division, harm and lasting damage to our freedoms.” And Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson said: “Reform’s Trump-inspired plans for an ICE-style force will only bring chaos and disorder to Britain’s streets, not the order and control our immigration system needs.”
The US has witnessed an outbreak of violence following two killings at the hands of ICE agents in recent weeks. Trump’s immigration force has been heavily criticised over its heavy-handed and often vicious approach to immigration enforcement.
Mr Yusuf hit back at comparisons, telling a press conference in Dover: “If your question is: are we going to have the kind of situation that we saw in Minnesota in Britain as a result of our deportation programme? No.”