Reform unveil proposals for ICE-style deportation agency

On 23 February, Zia Yusuf gave his first speech in his new role as Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman. Along with unveiling deepening US-style Christofascism, he also proudly revealed details of plans to increase his party’s already vile immigrant-bashing and Islamophobia to new heights.

This included a proposal to create a UK ‘Deportation Command’ modelled on the US ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agency. This agency would conduct ‘Operation Restoring Justice’, which would involve detaining ‘illegal’ immigrants in pre-fab structures before rapidly deporting them.

Yusuf also voiced ambitions to institute a visa ban against six Muslim-majority countries. Likewise, he would also refocus the already hideously Islamophobic ‘Prevent’ counter-terrorism scheme against Muslims in the UK.

ICE in the UK under Reform

Reform’s Yusuf gave his speech at a Dover press conference, with party leader Nigel Farage at his side. There, he described migrants arriving on small boats as “an invasion” numbering:

more than stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

The far right really love mentioning D-Day, don’t they? Funny how they neglect to mention that those small boats are the fault of Farage and his disastrous Brexit.

The home affairs spokesperson told BBC Breakfast that Reform planned to spend £2bn on its deportation scheme. This would include creating the ICE-alike Deportation Command:

to track down, detain and deport all illegal migrants in the UK.

We will embark on mass deportations using chartered flights with five departures every single day.

To guarantee success an RAF plane will be on standby in the event of mechanical issues. These flights will not be delayed.

Because nothing says ‘we’re definitely not fascist’ like proposals to get the military involved in deportations. Likewise, the fact that Reform are still hellbent on instituting a British ICE after seeing the heinous crimes, abuses and murders carried out by Trump’s Gestapo almost beggars belief. Almost.

‘A sadistic vision’

On top of this, Yusuf also unveiled plans to impose a visa ban on six different countries. These included Pakistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan – all of which just happen to have majority-Muslim populations.

Yusuf claimed that the policy was intended as a sanction against countries which don’t accept the return citizens deported from the UK. We’re sure it’s just a coincidence that, once again, Trump put out several almost-identical policies.

The home affairs spokesman claimed that Pakistan had the “highest overstay rates of any country”, but “routinely refused” to accept deportations. He said:

In order that we issue visas I think it’s very, very reasonable that we say you should take back the citizens of your country that have overstayed in our country and are here illegally and are a drain, in many cases, on resources in this country.

In reaction, Dora-Olivia Vicol – CEO of the Work Rights Centre – said:

We have watched in horror as ICE attacked migrant communities and citizens in the US – yet this is what Reform wants to base their immigration policies on?

This is a sadistic vision of UK families and communities being ripped apart, money being wasted, and the government turning against its own people.

Cancelling the immigration status of people who have settled and built their entire lives here would not only be callous but actively hurt our economy and public services. People who hold ILR are our partners, neighbours, friends, teachers, NHS workers, and include high tax contributors.

There is absolutely no reason to terminate their status other than for Reform’s own self-serving goals of division and chaos.

These are proposals designed purely to grab headlines and stoke anger.

They are cruel, economically self-defeating, and offer no solutions to the real problems facing people in Britain: poverty and exploitative work.

Prevent: just ignore the right-wing

And, on top off all this, Yusuf also stated that Reform would task Prevent, part of the UK’s anti-terrorism scheme, to re-focus on Islamist extremism. The Times reported that this would include a requirement for police to raid the home of anyone referred to Prevent three times.

Likewise, Reform would also reallocate Prevent’s resources to ensure that three-quarters of its budget is spent on tackling Islamic extremism. This would mimic the makeup of MI5’s caseload.

It also just so happens that the reallocation would necessitate a decrease in Prevent’s attention on extreme right-wing terrorism. In November 2025, the Guardian reported that the number of far-right extremists reported to Prevent was greater than any other source:

In total, 8,778 referrals were made because of suspicions of extremist radicalisation in the year to March 2025, 27% more than the previous year and the highest number of referrals in a single year since records began 10 years ago.

Of the 8,769 referrals where the type of concern is specified, 21%, or 1,798 cases, were due to “extreme rightwing concerns”; 10%, or 870, were referrals connected to Islamist ideology; and 56%, or 4,917, were for individuals judged to have no identified ideology.

So we have a far-right political party heavily invested in making sure that growing right-wing terrorism doesn’t get investigated. That seems awfully convenient, doesn’t it? And, given that all Reform have to motivate voters is the vague threat of Islamist terrorists, they’re likewise invested in inflating the investigation of Muslims.

Reform’s policies are built on the fear of the other – the fear of Islam, the fear of immigrants. They are dedicated stoking the fires of public hatred, because they thrive on that same division. Beyond that, their politics are as empty and hollow as the conmen like Yusuf who stand up and spout it.

Featured image via the Canary