Reform UK proposes sweeping crackdown on illegal migration

While overall net illegal migration to Britain fell last year, the number of arrivals across the Channel has risen. More than 41,000 “asylum seekers” arrived on small boats in 2025, the second highest number on record, according to government data.

In the party's most detailed description of its illegal migration policy to date, Yusuf promised to introduce an "illegal migration mass deportation act" to legally compel the government to deport illegal migrants and block judges from intervening.

He said the party would also create the deportation command, which would be able to deport up to 288,000 annually, a move which drew comparisons with ICE. Yusuf said he did not expect Britain to experience a similar situation as the United States if a Reform government brought in the agency.

Yusuf said a Reform government would stop benefit payments to foreign nationals and apply visa bans on nations such as Pakistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan for refusing to take back their illegal migrants.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Additional reporting by Sam Tabahriti, Editing by Andrew Heavens)