By Nkiruka Nnorom,with agency report
Tory’s leader, Kemi Badenoch, has promised a US-style immigration crackdown, threatening to deport 150,000 migrants who do not have a right to remain in the UK annually.
Part of her plan would see the creation of a “Removals Force”, modelled on the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, which has been dramatically expanded under President Donald Trump and likened by critics to a secret police.
The Conservative said the new force would replace the existing Home Office Immigration Enforcement unit and would be given double the funding to £1.6 billion every year from £820m.
“Its mandate will be relentlessly to focus on increasing the number of removals from 34,000 to 150,000 a year, representing at least 750,000 removals across a parliament,” Badenoch said while addressing the Conservatives conference.
“They don’t belong here. They are committing crimes. They are hurting people. I’m tired of us asking irrelevant questions about where they should go. They will go back to where they came from,” she said.
Badenoch insisted that she had spent the past 12 months, marked by plummeting poll ratings and disastrous local election results in May, drawing up credible plans for government.
“Nothing good comes quickly or fast,” she insisted. “It will pay off.”
Badenoch added: “I was elected to do exactly what I’m doing now. I think Conservative party members will keep their faith in me. We have shown we have done the hard work.”
Under the previous Tory government record numbers of people came to the UK under legal routes, as well as across the channel on small boats.
Badenoch has admitted that the Tories have made mistakes in the past, but claims that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has failed to get a grip on immigration.
“We must tackle the scourge of illegal immigration into Britain and secure our borders,” Badenoch said, at the start of the four-day conference.
She has also confirmed plans for Britain to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, which she claims makes it harder for Britain to deport failed asylum seekers.
The conservatives set out a seven-point plan to crack down on illicit migration, also including banning asylum claims by illegal entrants, a repeal of the Human Rights Act and the removal of legal aid for immigration cases.
Shabana Mahmood, Home Secretary, said Badenoch’s migration plan “lacked any credibility whatsoever” and that the Conservatives had a poor record in returning failed asylum seekers.
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