Today in Focus Could Farage bring ICE to the UK? – The Latest
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Feb 23, 2026 
Jessica Elgot, deputy political editor at The Guardian, offers sharp analysis of Reform UK's plan for a UK Deportation Command. She breaks down claims about detention capacity and deportation logistics. She explains shifts in rhetoric, likely policy moves, and public attitudes toward immigration.
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Reform UK Plans Mass Deportation Command
- Reform UK proposes a UK Deportation Command to deport hundreds of thousands, revoking indefinite leave to remain and replacing it with renewable five-year visas with high income thresholds.
- Jessica Elgot warns this could put legally settled people at risk, likening it to revoking green card status and calling it more extreme than US policies.
Capacity Claims Far Exceed Current Infrastructure
- Reform's capacity claims include 24,000 detention spaces and nearly 300,000 deportations a year via five flights a day, implying over a million removals in a five-year parliament.
- Elgot notes current detention capacity is ~2,500 and says scaling to 24,000 and thousands of flights would be enormously costly and likely unworkable.
Rhetoric Shift From Farage To Zia Yusuf
- It's unclear whether Reform intends US-style street detentions; Nigel Farage initially rejected mass-deportation language on workability grounds but has since softened.
- Zia Yusuf promotes the tougher rhetoric and Reform has recycled Operation Restoring Justice proposals from summer policy papers.