Reform UK, the right wing party headed by Nigel Farage, on Monday vowed to set up a UK version of the US’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and deport up to 2,88,000 migrants per year if it is elected to power, according to reports.
The proposals were unveiled by the party’s new home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf during a speech in Dover.
UK-based newspaper, the Daily Mail, reported that Yusuf said that a Reform UK-led government would deport more than 6,00,000 individuals in its first term as government.
According to a BBC report, Yusuf described the creation of a “UK Deportation Command” as a “burning priority” for a Reform government, saying it would be central to what the party calls “Operation Restoring Justice.”
Several news outlets, including the Daily Mail, and news agency Reuters described the proposed Deportation Command as being a British version of the US’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. US President Donald Trump, after coming to office in January 2025, significantly expanded the authority and resources of the ICE to execute what he describes as the “largest domestic deportation operation” in American history.
WHAT IS NIGEL FARAGE’S REFORM UK PARTY?
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 2018 as the Brexit Party by Nigel Farage and Catherine Blaiklock to advocate a no-deal Brexit. Brexit, for context, refers to the UK’s exit from the European Union in 2020 after prolonged negotiations following a 2016 pan-UK referendum.
The party’s founder and its most prominent public face, Nigel Farage, has been described by various media outlets as a right-wing populist politician, Eurosceptic. He has been the leader of the party since June 2024 and is currently MP for the UK Parliamentary constituency of Clacton.
The Brexit Party, as it was then known, won the most votes in the 2019 European Parliament election but rebranded as Reform UK in 2021 to focus on broader domestic issues.
Under Farage’s leadership, it has prioritised strict immigration controls, including leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, mass deportations of illegal arrivals, tax cuts, scrapping net-zero policies, NHS reform, and anti-establishment “common sense” governance. In the 2024 UK general election, the Reform UK party secured 14.3% of the vote (third place) and won five seats, which has now increased to eight.
WHAT HAS THE REFORM UK PARTY PROMISED TO DO IF IT IS ELECTED TO POWER?
Zia Yusuf, who is a Scottish-born politician, born to parents from Sri Lanka, unveiled Reform UK’s hardline immigration policy alongside party leader Nigel Farage during a press conference in the coastal city of Dover.
In his first speech as the party’s home affairs spokesman, Yusuf said a UK Deportation Command would be established to deliver Operation Restoring Justice, promising to detain 24,000 illegal migrants. The Daily Mail report described the proposed Deportation Command as being a British version of the US’s ICE agency.
The BBC reported him as saying that officers of the Deportation Command would “track down, detain and deport all illegal migrants”. Yusuf said that the illegal immigrants would be housed in modular accommodations, and the government would operate five deportation flights a day.
The Reform UK has said the programme would cost an estimated two billion pounds annually, which Yusuf argued would be offset by savings from reduced spending on migrant accommodation and welfare. He also pledged to limit welfare payments to British citizens only, saying foreign nationals should no longer be eligible for benefits such as Universal Credit. Yusuf told the audience that Reform would expect to deport more than 6,00,000 during its first term in government, including up to 2,88,000 every year.
He also added that a reform-led government would also impose visa bans on six countries, those being Pakistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan. Yusuf was reported by the BBC as having singled out Pakistani migrants for having the highest rate of individuals overstaying their visas.
Defending the scale of the proposed measures, Yusuf described illegal migration as a “national security emergency” and said Britain was being “invaded”. He added that 2,00,000 migrants who had come to the UK in small boats over the last eight years “more than stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.”
D-Day refers to the 1944 landing of Allied forces (Britain, US, Canada) in Nazi Germany-occupied mainland Europe at the peak of World War II.
Yusuf also said it would withdraw Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights, arguing that court rulings have blocked deportations and prioritised the rights of criminals over citizens. The party also plans to introduce an “Illegal Migration Mass Deportation Act” to limit judicial intervention in removal cases.
Other proposals include replacing indefinite leave to remain with renewable five-year work visas, criminalising assistance for illegal entry regardless of intent, expanding stop-and-search powers, and granting listed status to churches to prevent their conversion into other places of worship. Yusuf also said he supports a ban on all face coverings in public spaces, including the burqa.
Reform UK’s press conference drew flak from the ruling Labour Party, with Labour Party chairperson Anna Turley accusing the Farage-led party of wanting to “divide our country”. Turley said that the Labour government had already deported 60,000 illegal immigrants by November 2025, reported the Daily Mail.
The UK, like several other European nations, is reeling from the menace of illegal immigration. In 2025, approximately 41,500 people were detected crossing the English Channel in small boats, marking a 13% increase from 2024 and the second-highest annual total on record, according to the Oxford Migration Observatory.
