UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has announced what she calls the “toughest reforms Britain has ever seen” in immigration policy, unveiling a sweeping new border strategy designed to detain and deport 150,000 illegal migrants each year.
In a video posted on her X account on Sunday, Badenoch introduced the Radical Borders Plan, which includes the creation of a new Removals Force modelled after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to overhaul the UK’s border enforcement system.
“My message is clear: if you’re here illegally, you will be detained and deported,” she stated in the video caption.
Positioning herself as a hardliner on immigration, Badenoch sharply criticised both Conservative and Labour governments for what she described as years of failure in tackling illegal migration.
She accused Labour of overseeing record levels of illegal crossings and wasting taxpayer money on asylum accommodations.
“Today, I’m launching our Radical Borders Plan — the toughest reforms Britain has ever seen to border laws and operations. Successive governments have failed on immigration. Labour promised to smash the gangs. Instead, in just a year, they’ve delivered record small boat crossings — over 50,000 illegal arrivals, 32,000 people in asylum hotels, and billions wasted. It’s pure weakness. Britain needs a serious, credible plan and the backbone to deliver it,” she said.
Under the proposed plan, asylum claims from illegal entrants would be banned, the Human Rights Act repealed, and the UK would withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Badenoch explained that all illegal arrivals would be deported within a week, with legal obstacles to mass deportations removed and visa sanctions imposed on countries that refuse to repatriate their citizens.
She added that the new enforcement agency would “shut down the asylum hotel racket,” save taxpayers billions, and restore public confidence in Britain’s borders.
“Only the Conservatives have a serious, credible plan to deliver stronger borders. If you come here illegally, you will be deported,” Badenoch concluded.
However, during an interview on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Badenoch faced criticism for refusing to specify where deported migrants would be sent.
“I’m tired of all these irrelevant questions about where they should go. They will go back to where they should be or another country, but they should not be here,” she said. When pressed further, she added: “They will go back to where they came from.”
According to Sky News, the proposed Removals Force would replace the existing Home Office Immigration Enforcement Unit and be granted broad powers — including the use of facial recognition technology without prior warning — to identify and remove undocumented migrants.
If implemented, Badenoch’s plan would represent one of the most radical overhauls of UK immigration policy in decades, deepening political divisions over border control and human rights protections.
