The UK Conservative Party has announced plans to create a new agency tasked with detaining and deporting people who have entered the country illegally. The body will be modeled after the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
Party leader Kemi Badenoch told ITV that Britain "must put an end to the scourge of illegal migration and secure its borders." She said, "That is why the Conservatives are presenting a serious, comprehensive plan to bring this crisis to an end."
The new agency, called the Removals Force, will be an expanded version of the existing immigration enforcement unit under the Home Office. It will work closely with the police and conduct regular inspections, according to the party’s "border plan," which the Conservatives will unveil at their conference on Sunday. The agency’s annual budget is set to increase to £1.6 billion.
If the party wins the next general election, it plans to deport 750,000 people living in the UK without legal status within five years.
The initiative underscores the Conservatives’ shift toward a tougher stance on security and immigration as they seek to win back voters who defected to the far-right Reform UK movement after their heavy defeat in the last parliamentary election. The Conservatives currently rank third in the polls, trailing both Nigel Farage’s party and the ruling Labour Party.