Britain is bracing for one of its most aggressive immigration overhauls yet. Kemi Badenoch, leader of the UK Conservative Party, has laid out a bold and controversial vision to detain and deport 150,000 illegal migrants annually under a new “Removals Force” modeled on the United States’ ICE agency.
In a video announcement shared on her social media channels, Badenoch promised sweeping changes under what she calls the Radical Borders Plan.
She pledged to strip away legal protections and streamline deportation processes:
All illegal entrants will be detained and removed within a week.
The Home Office’s current Immigration Enforcement division will be replaced with the new Removals Force, backed by £1.6 billion in funding.
The force will be granted “sweeping new powers,” such as the use of facial recognition systems without notice to identify undocumented migrants.
The plan proposes a radical reworking of the asylum system: banning claims from illegal entrants, abolishing immigration tribunals, and eliminating legal aid for immigration cases.
Badenoch also reaffirmed her intention to withdraw the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and repeal the Human Rights Act (HRA) to clear legal barriers to deportation.
When pressed by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg about where the deported individuals would be sent, Badenoch responded that such questions were “irrelevant”, insisting that her priority is “who belongs here.”
Badenoch’s plan has drawn immediate backlash from critics inside and outside her party:
Many question the feasibility of deporting 150,000 people a year, especially given previous challenges in scaling up removals.
Human rights advocates warn that stripping away legal aid and judicial oversight could lead to miscarriages of justice and erode fundamental protections.
Opposition figures argue that pulling the UK out of the ECHR risks breaching international agreements and damaging the country’s global standing.
Even within the Conservative ranks, some fear the plan may be too extreme, especially given past failures to deliver mass deportations under less ambitious schemes.
