Kemi Badenoch unveils tough deportation plan to remove 150,000 migrants annually

By Kazeem Ugbodaga 

UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has unveiled an ambitious immigration plan that aims to deport up to 150,000 illegal migrants every year, in what she described as a decisive move to “restore control of Britain’s borders.”

Speaking at the 2025 Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, Badenoch announced that her government would create a new “Removals Force”, a dedicated immigration enforcement agency modelled after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The agency will be tasked with dramatically expanding deportations from the current annual average of around 34,000 to 150,000.

According to the proposal, the new force will receive £1.6 billion in funding, giving it greater operational capacity, surveillance tools, and police support.

Officers will reportedly be empowered to conduct immigration checks during routine arrests and use technologies such as facial recognition to identify illegal entrants.

Badenoch said the reforms were necessary to end what she called “years of weak enforcement and legal loopholes” that have allowed people to “remain unlawfully in the country.”

“Britain will no longer be a soft touch for illegal migration,” she told delegates. “We will find, detain, and remove those who have no right to be here.”

Badenoch’s plan also proposes withdrawing the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and repealing the Human Rights Act, both of which she argues have been exploited to block deportations through lengthy appeals.

Under the proposed legislation, asylum claims from people entering illegally would be automatically rejected, and legal aid for immigration cases would be curtailed.

Critics, however, have questioned both the feasibility and legality of the 150,000 deportation target.

Immigration lawyers and human rights groups warn that such mass removals could breach international law and strain relations with destination countries.

The Labour Party described the plan as “headline politics without substance,” arguing that the UK currently lacks the infrastructure, detention capacity, and diplomatic agreements to achieve deportations at that scale.

Legal experts have also pointed out that withdrawing from the ECHR would require renegotiating multiple international treaties and could have far-reaching implications for citizens’ rights.