Reform UK's Home Affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, is set to unveil a major immigration overhaul in a speech on Monday, February 23, 2026, in Dover.

 

Reform would create ICE-style agency and end leave to remain, Zia Yusuf to say

Reform UK's Home Affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, is set to unveil a major immigration overhaul in a speech on Monday, February 23, 2026, in Dover.

 

Key components of the proposal include:

• UK Deportation Command: The creation of a "Trump-inspired" agency modeled after the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It would have the capacity to detain 24,000 migrants at a time and deport up to 288,000 people annually using five daily charter flights.
• Ending Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR): The party proposes to abolish ILR and replace it with renewable five-year work visas and dedicated spouse visas. This could potentially affect tens of thousands of legally settled migrants.
• Visa Freezes: Countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, Sudan, and Somalia would face a British visa ban unless they cooperate with UK deportation requests.
• Welfare Restrictions: An immediate termination of Universal Credit payments to foreign nationals.
• Enhanced Policing: Plans include a "vast expansion" of stop and search powers, mandatory home searches for those referred to the Prevent programme by three separate authorities, and the proscription of the Muslim Brotherhood.
• Cultural Preservation: Granting listed status to all churches to prevent their conversion into mosques or other places of worship to protect "Britain's Christian heritage".
• The Labour Party has condemned these plans as "fundamentally un-British" and a "direct attack on settled families," while Amnesty International accused the party of scapegoating migrants to justify expanded surveillance.