Farage Pledges Mass Deportations of Up to 400,000 Asylum Seekers Under Reform Plan

Nigel Farage has pledged to deport hundreds of thousands of people who were previously granted asylum in the UK if he wins the next election, in one of the most hardline immigration proposals put forward in recent years.

Reform UK says it would launch a sweeping review of all successful asylum claims made over the past five years. The plan would reassess whether individuals entered the country illegally, overstayed visas before claiming asylum, or if their home countries are now considered safe.

Anyone found to meet any of those criteria would have their right to remain revoked and face deportation.

The party estimates around 400,000 people would fall within the scope of the review, with the majority expected to be removed from the UK.

Breaking with International Law

Reform has already committed to withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights and stepping back from the Refugee Convention, both of which currently underpin the UK’s asylum system.

The move would represent a fundamental shift in how asylum claims are assessed and enforced.

Operation Restoring Justice

The policy forms part of a wider plan to dramatically scale up deportations. Reform says it would create a new removals agency tasked with tracking down and deporting all illegal migrants in the UK.

Under the proposal:

• Up to 24,000 people could be held in detention at any one time
• The UK would carry out five deportation flights per day
• Around 188,000 people would be deported annually

The party has also said it would aim to achieve net emigration, meaning more people leave the UK than arrive. The last time this happened was in 1993.

Hardline Rhetoric and Wider Policies

Reform’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said previous governments had effectively operated an open borders policy and accused them of rewarding illegal entry.

He said a Reform government would strip status from those who entered illegally or overstayed visas and take action to deport them.

Yusuf has also previously suggested banning face coverings in public, including religious garments, although the party has not finalised its position.

Deportation Force Comparison Rejected

Reform has rejected comparisons between its proposed deportation force and US immigration enforcement agencies, insisting its officers would not carry weapons.

Yusuf said policing in the UK operates differently and would remain based on consent rather than force.

Scale of Illegal Migration Unclear

There has been no official estimate of the UK’s undocumented population since 2005, when it was put between 310,000 and 570,000.

More recent unofficial estimates suggest the figure could be as high as 1.2 million.