Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has unveiled an aggressive immigration plan that would see 150,000 migrants removed from the UK each year through a new enforcement agency modeled after America’s ICE.
At the Conservative Party conference, Badenoch laid out her vision for a “Removals Force” that would replace the current Home Office Immigration Enforcement unit with double the funding, jumping from £820 million to £1.6 billion a year.
The target represents a massive increase from the current 34,000 annual removals, with Badenoch promising 750,000 deportations over a single parliament.
“They don’t belong here. They are committing crimes. They are hurting people,” she told the conference.
“I’m tired of us asking irrelevant questions about where they should go. They will go back to where they came from.”
The Tory leader defended her approach, saying her team had spent the past year crafting “credible plans for government” and that “nothing good comes quickly or fast, but it will pay off.”
Badenoch’s proposals come as immigration remains a hot-button issue following record levels of both legal and illegal migration under the previous Conservative government, including thousands of Channel crossings by small boats.
While admitting her party “made mistakes” on immigration, Badenoch took aim at Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, accusing him of losing control of Britain’s borders.
“We must tackle the scourge of illegal immigration into Britain and secure our borders,” she said.
Her plan includes withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which she claims hampers deportation efforts.
The Conservatives also announced a seven-point strategy featuring a ban on asylum claims from illegal entrants, scrapping the Human Rights Act, and cutting legal aid for immigration cases.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood quickly hit back, saying Badenoch’s proposals “lacked any credibility whatsoever” and pointing to the Conservatives’ track record on deportations while in power.
