The UK Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, has launched a comprehensive immigration plan aimed at deporting 150,000 illegal migrants each year, should her party come to power.
Dubbed the “Radical Borders Plan,” the proposal includes creating a dedicated “Removals Force” modeled after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
This new body would replace current Home Office immigration enforcement teams and be allocated approximately £1.6 billion in funding.
Key features of the plan include:
- Sweeping powers for the Removals Force, such as using facial recognition without prior warning to identify illegal immigrants.
- Collaboration with the police, mandating immigration checks on individuals they stop or arrest.
- Reforming asylum and legal review processes, which includes proposals to ban asylum claims from illegal entrants, repeal the Human Rights Act, withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and limit legal aid in immigration cases.
Badenoch claims that current removal numbers are much lower (around 34,000 annually), and that the new force would aim to dramatically increase those numbers.
She also emphasized the importance of restoring public confidence in the immigration system.
Critics have raised questions, particularly about where deported individuals would be sent, the legality of some proposed powers, and the potential human rights implications.
