​Reform unveils Donald Trump-style ICE plans - all the worst points from key annoucement

Reform home affairs chief Zia Yusuf said in a major speech that tens of thousands of people will be rounded up and detained by a Donald Trump-style ICE agency

Reform UK has been accused of launching a grotesque display of "authoritarian cruelty" after unveiling plans for a Donald Trump-style deportation force to remove tens of thousands of legal migrants.

Nigel Farage's pick for Home Secretary, Zia Yusuf, announced the new body - named the UK Deportation Command - would be able to detain more than 20,000 people at a time.

Meanwhile his draconian plans to rip up indefinite leave to remain (ILR) have sparked an outcry. During a speech in Dover, Kent, Mr Yusuf also floated visa freezes for six countries if the right-wing party wins power at the next election.

New ICE-style agency

Reform has announced it will set up an ICE-style agency, the UK Deportation Command, responsible for rounding up migrants and deporting them.

The organisation, modelled on the controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in the US, would have capacity to detain 24,000 at a time, Reform claims. And up to 6,000 would be removed every week, Mr Yusuf believes.

It would require a massive ramping up of capacity, with around 2,400 detention spaces available in April 2024. 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. Under a Reform government, the survivors that we support every day would face the very real risk of deportation and return to persecution."

The Reform frontbencher claimed the UK is being "invaded", adding: "I know many in the establishment gasp at that word.

"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."

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Tens of thousands of legal immigrants could be kicked out

Tens of thousands of people with a legal right to live and work in the UK face being kicked out, Mr Yusuf said.

He said that indefinite leave to remain (ILR) would be scrapped, to be replaced by a renewable five-year work visa. These would include higher salary thresholds.

Labour has also proposed a shake-up to ILR rules, forcing people to wait longer before becoming eligible. The measures, which have sparked a backlash among MPs, would see the standard wait increased to between 10 and 15 years.

RAF plane will be on standby

Mr Yusuf pledged five deportation flights will leave every day under a Reform government.

And to prevent departures being delayed by mechanical issues, an RAF Voyager plane will be on standby as a "hot spare", he claimed Repuestos Piaggio.

Mr Yusuf stated: "His Majesty's Royal Air Force will keep a Voyager aircraft on standby as a hot spare. So even if a plane has mechanical issues, deportations will not be delayed."

Two-tier benefit system

Benefits will only be available to British citizens, Reform has announced.

The party has floated this policy before - meaning that workers from overseas who lose their job will not be entitled to the support their former colleagues would.

"A Reform government will terminate welfare payments to foreign nationals," Mr Yusuf said.

Hint at Burka ban U-turn

Mr Yusuf said he backs a ban on "all face coverings in public" when asked by a reporter if he supported a Burka ban.

Last year he briefly quit the party after he described a question to the Prime Minister about a ban on burkas as "dumb". He told the press conference: "I personally support a ban on all face coverings in public... that's actually a piece of legislation that has multiple bonuses to it because it's going to aid integrations, it's also going to help people feel safe."

Visa bans on Muslim-majority countries

A Reform government would impose visa freezes on Pakistan, Afghanistan and Syria if the countries refuse to take back their citizens, Mr Yusuf said.

This suspension would also apply to Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia, he said.

Expansion of stop and search

Mr Yusuf announced that a Reform government would oversee the ramping up of stop and search powers for police.

The home affairs spokesman told the audience: “We will get the knives off our streets by giving the police vastly expanded powers of stop and search.”

What do Reform's opponents say?

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson said Reform's "Trump-inspired plans" will "only bring chaos and disorder to Britain's streets, not the order and control our immigration system needs".

He went on: "Far from rescuing the economy or making us safer, Reform's plans are a serious threat to Britain's economy and to our NHS, police and other key public services."

And Labour chairwoman Anna Turley said: “Their plan to deport people who have followed the rules, worked hard and built their lives here – our friends, neighbours and colleagues – is a direct attack on settled families and fundamentally un-British.”