Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf has said Britain is being ‘invaded’ by illegal migrants as he vowed to deport 288,000 every year.

The party’s new home affairs spokesman unveiled the ambitious target today in a major speech on immigration policy.

Mr Yusuf unveiled a series of Trump-style proposals, including the creation of the ‘UK Deportation Command’ – a British version of America’s controversial US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit.

He said the unit would ‘track down, detain and deport’ people in the country illegally, aiming for up to 288,000 people each year.

But Mr Yusuf said it is ‘not true’ that the unit will face the same issues as America’s, which saw an immigration crackdown in Minnesota lead to mass detentions, protests and two deaths.

Mr Yusuf said it was ‘very tempting’ and ‘somewhat inevitable’ for people to make the comparison between Reform’s model and the US, but said the UK does not have the same problems with firearms and policing is ‘much more’ done by consent.

Speaking at a press conference in Dover, he said: ‘So you know this notion that we’re going to have the same issues that come sharply into focus internationally as a result of Trump’s Ice programme – it’s just not true, we would not expect UK Deportation Command to carry weapons. It’s not going to be the case.

‘But I also want to be clear that if you’re in this country illegally, they will detect you and they will detain you and they’ll deport you.’

Zia Yusuf told an audience in Dover that Britain was being ‘invaded’ by illegal immigrants

His other policy proposals include –

• An ‘Illegal Migration Mass Deportation Act’ to legally compel the Home Secretary to deport illegal migrants and stop judges from intervening;
• The replacement of indefinite leave to remain with a renewable five-year work visa and dedicated spouse visa; 
• A ‘Polanski Law’ to make ‘aiding and abetting illegal entry into the UK a criminal offence, regardless of intent’;
• Stripping foreign nationals of any entitlement to Universal Credit payments; 
• Automatic home searches for anyone referred to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme by three ‘separate, corroborating authorities’;
• A ‘vast expansion’ of stop and search powers, including ‘saturation policing’ in high-crime areas;
• Removing DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion’ mandates for police to focus on ‘core duties’; 
• Immediate listed status granted to all churches to ‘legally prevent their conversion into mosques or other places of worship’;
• Proscribing the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as terrorist organisations; 
• A use of emergency powers to build ‘massive’ new prison capacity.  

He added: ‘If your question is: are we going to have the kind of situation that we saw in Minnesota in Britain as a result of our deportation programme? No.’

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson had said Reform’s ‘Trump-inspired plans for an Ice-style force will only bring chaos and disorder to Britain’s streets, not the order and control our immigration system needs’.

Reform will also impose ‘visa freezes’ on Pakistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan if the countries refuse to take back migrants with no legal right to stay in Britain, Mr Yusuf announced.

He also promised Britain would withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to stop the rights of foreign criminals being ‘prioritised’ over British people.

After the plans were advanced in advance yesterday, Labour chairman Anna Turley accused Reform of wanting to ‘divide our country’.

Mr Yusuf told an audience in Dover that Reform would expect to deport more than 600,000 in its first term in government.

Defending his use of language, Mr Yusuf told the audience: ‘I know many in the establishment gasp at that word.

‘They may well clutch their pearls in the television studios, but the dictionary definition of invasion is an incursion by a large number of people in an unwanted way.

‘Make no mistake, as home secretary, I will end and indeed reverse this invasion, because the patience of the British people is now exhausted.’

Mr Yusuf said the UK Deportation Command would have capacity to detain up to 24,000 migrants at any time.

It comes after controversies in the US following two fatal shootings of seemingly innocent civilians involving Mr Trump’s ICE agents and Border Patrol officials in January.

Mr Yusuf vowed to run five deportation flights a day if Reform wins power and said an RAF Voyager would be kept on standby in case of technical difficulties.

The spokesman also announced Reform’s plans to ‘protect Britain’s Christian heritage’.

He said this would include granting immediate listed status to all churches to legally prevent their conversion into mosques or other places of worship.

Mr Yusuf has said the rights of British citizens are being placed ‘beneath those of criminals’ because of the ECHR and listed what he said were examples of judges blocking the deportation of illegal migrants who had committed crimes.

‘How many more people must die at the hands of those who should never have been in our country in the first place?’ he said.

‘How many more victims’ families must be devastated in this way when their rights are placed beneath those of criminals?

‘The answer is none, Vote Reform. We will leave the ECHR and end this madness.’

Last year, Mr Yusuf briefly quit the party after he criticised a proposal by one of its MPs to ban burkas as ‘dumb’.

But asked today if he supported a burka ban, Mr Yusuf said: ‘I personally support a ban on all face coverings in public… that’s actually a piece of legislation that has multiple bonuses to it because it’s going to aid integrations, it’s also going to help people feel safe.’

Last night Labour‘s Anna Turley hit back at Reform’s proposals, saying: ‘Britain is a proud, tolerant and diverse nation, which stands in opposition to the kind of divisive politics stoked by Reform.’