Nigel Farage wants to deport asylum seekers – is that possible?

Nigel Farage wants to deport asylum seekers – is that possible?

The leader of the UK's populist right has vowed to deport hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers and withdraw the country from international human rights treaties. But experts doubt Nigel Farage's plans - touted as the most radical immigration reform in modern British politics - can ever be implemented.

Farage's radical immigration plans

Farage, whose Reform Party is currently leading in national polls despite having just four seats in parliament, said a government he led would withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and repeal the Human Rights Act to reverse a flow of people into the country that he said threatened national security. “The mood in the country on this issue varies between total despair and growing anger,” Farage said at a news conference. “It is an invasion when these young men enter our country illegally.”

Criticism of the proposals

Human rights activists and lawyers have criticized both the ethics and viability of Farage's proposals. Immigration has become a dominant issue for British voters, surpassing the economy as the most important issue in recent polls. In 2024, the UK received a record number of 108,100 asylum applications, an increase of 20% on the previous year. Government statistics show that over 28,000 people have already crossed the English Channel from France in small boats this year, a 46% increase compared to the same time in 2024.

“Operation Restoration of Justice”

In response, Reform's draft policy, dubbed "Operation Restoration of Justice," calls for the construction of detention centers on military sites to house up to 24,000 people at a time - a benchmark Reform says would allow for 288,000 deportations annually. On Tuesday, the party also suggested that up to 600,000 asylum seekers could be deported in the first parliamentary session of a reform government.

Legal and moral concerns

But Farage's plans appear to contradict existing law. Laura Smith, joint general counsel of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, told CNN: "This is simply nothing more than a dangerous fantasy. Aside from the fact that it is morally abhorrent to send people to countries where they risk torture and death, it would be a mistake to believe that the government cannot do this because of international legal treaties."

Roberta Haslam, partner at Bindmans LLP, said Farage's plan was "uneconomical": "The cost of deporting hundreds of thousands of people would be astronomical." She pointed to the previous British government's failed plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, which was unanimously declared unlawful by the country's Supreme Court in 2023.

Challenges and international agreements

Under existing UK law, entering the country without a visa or prior authorization is a criminal offense punishable by up to four years in prison. However, international agreements protect anyone who immediately applies for asylum upon arrival. Such persons cannot be prosecuted while their case is pending and, if their application is successful, they cannot be penalized for the manner in which they entered the country. In practice, entering the country by small boat is only illegal if no asylum application is made or if this application is ultimately rejected.

Possible consequences and public reaction

Farage's plans would go far beyond the Conservatives' failed repatriation strategy. Zia Yusuf, the Reform Party's head of efficiency, told BBC Radio 4's Today program that a Reform government would even consider offering money to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to accept the return of migrants who entered the UK illegally: "We have a budget of £2 billion to make offers to countries."

Farage warned on Tuesday that “without action” on immigration, anger in the country would grow. But when asked which air base could handle deportable flights - a key element of the plan - he was unable to name a single location.

Kolbassia Haoussou, director of the British charity Freedom from Torture, warned that plans to deport people to countries where they risk being tortured also violate Britons' moral code. “That’s not who we are as a country,” he explained. "For centuries, the UK has been a leading voice against torture and helped shape the international laws that Reform now seeks to destroy. If Britain were to abandon this legacy, it would be a gift to repressive governments around the world and would undermine one of humanity's clearest moral lines."