NIGEL Farage today appeared to row back on his pledge to include women and children in illegal migrant deportations.
The Reform leader said the two groups would be “exempt” from being sent packing for five years – but not “forever”.
PANigel Farage today appeared to row back on his pledge to include women and children in illegal migrant deportations[/caption]
GettyThe Reform leader said women and children will not feature in the first five years of mass deportations[/caption]
On Tuesday Mr Farage declared that under his mass deportation plan, 600,000 illegal migrants, including females of all ages, would have no right to stay in Britain.
But pushed on the issue again at a press conference in Edinburgh today, he clarified: “I was very, very clear yesterday in what I said, that deportation of illegal immigrants – we are not even discussing women and children at this stage.
“I didn’t say exempt forever, but at this stage it’s not part of our plan for the next five years.”
Most illegal migrants are young men under 50, making up 59% of all claims, with kids next at 22%.
A record 19,471 children lodged asylum claims – more than double the 7,672 seen ten years ago.
And the number of men under 30 has rocketed four-fold in a decade to 41,553.
It comes as the Taliban confirmed it is “ready and willing” to strike an illegal migrant returns deal with Mr Farage.
A senior official suggested the extremist group would ask for aid to support deported Afghans instead of money.
The official told The Telegraph: “We are ready and willing to receive and embrace whoever he [Nigel Farage] sends us.
“We are prepared to work with anyone who can help end the struggles of Afghan refugees, as we know many of them do not have a good life abroad.
“We will not take money to accept our own people, but we welcome aid to support newcomers, since there are challenges in accommodating and feeding those returning from Iran and Pakistan.
“Afghanistan is home to all Afghans, and the Islamic Emirate is determined to make this country a place where everyone – those already here, those returning, or those being sent back from the West by Mr Farage or anyone else – can live with dignity.”
The Taliban official also suggested it will be easier for Afghanistan to “deal” with Reform than Labour.
He said: “We will have to see what Mr Farage does when or if he becomes prime minister of Britain, but since his views are different, it may be easier to deal with him than with the current ones.
“We will accept anyone he sends, whether they are legal or illegal refugees in Britain.”
The Taliban are hardline Islamist militants who seized back control of Afghanistan in 2021 after two decades of war.
They enforce brutal Sharia law, with strict rules on women, media and daily life, backed by violence and fear.
Branded terrorists by the West, they’re accused of harbouring extremists and crushing human rights while clinging to power.
Mr Farage yesterday vowed to deport 600,000 illegal migrants in his first term in office – in a crackdown he claims will save taxpayers billions.
The Reform UK boss said the public mood over Channel crossings was “a mix between total despair and rising anger”, warning of a “genuine threat to public order” unless Britain acts fast.
THE SUN SAYS
IN typically ferocious style, Nigel Farage yesterday laid down the gauntlet to Labour on immigration.
How the Government responds may well end up deciding whether it wins a second term.
Farage speaks ordinary Brits’ language and understands their “total despair”.
His cure for the crisis was plenty of harsh medicine:
1. Deportation flights starting immediately and ultimately booting out up to 600,000 illegals.
2. Bringing back Rwanda-style deals with third countries — the only proper deterrent to the small boats we ever had, and foolishly scrapped by Labour.
3. Ripping up European human rights laws and quitting the ECHR, which will also go down well with voters.
Labour will never do it and the Tories have dithered. But can Farage actually deliver it?
How will he achieve returns deals with rogue and failed states such as Iran and Afghanistan?
Many Brits will be wary of his idea of giving taxpayers’ cash to the vile Taliban regime.
The Tories tried for years to bring in a British Bill of Rights and failed.
Where does Northern Ireland and the complicated rules around the Good Friday Agreement fit in?
If he wants to be Prime Minister, Farage will have to provide some serious answers.
This morning Tory Chairman Kevin Hollinrake confirmed his party would also “potentially” look to strike a returns agreement with the Taliban.
He added that his party’s deportation plan, which was published in May, is “far more comprehensive than the one we’ve seen from Reform, in that it dealt with both legal migration and illegal migration”.
Unveiling a five-year emergency programme, dubbed Operation Restoring Justice, Mr Farage yesterday tore into what he called an “invasion” on Britain’s borders and pledged the boldest deportation plan ever put forward by a UK party.
Speaking at an aircraft hangar in Oxfordshire, Mr Farage declared: “If you come to the UK illegally, you will be detained and deported and never, ever allowed to stay, period.
“That is our big message from today, and we are the first party to put out plans that could actually make that work.”
Reform’s plan centres on a new Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill, which would make it the Home Secretary’s legal duty to remove anyone who arrives unlawfully, and strip courts and judges of the power to block flights.
Britain would quit the European Convention on Human Rights, scrap the Human Rights Act and suspend the Refugee Convention for five years.
Reform would also make re-entry after deportation a crime carrying up to five years in jail, enforce a lifetime ban on returning, and make tearing up ID papers punishable by the same penalty.
Mr Farage said women and children would be detained and removed under the plans, with “phase one” focusing on men and women and unaccompanied minors deported “towards the latter half of that five years”.
He even raised the prospect that children born in Britain to parents who arrived illegally could also be deported, but admitted it would be “complex”.
He said: “How far back you go with this is the difficulty, and I accept that… I’m not standing here telling you all of this is easy, all of this is straightforward.”
There would also be a six-month “Assisted Voluntary Return Window” with cash incentives to leave before Border Force begins US-style raids. Mr Farage said: “Will Border Force be seeking out people who are here illegally, possibly many of them working in the criminal economy?
“Yes, it’s what normal countries do all over the world.
“What sane country would allow undocumented young males to break into its country, to put them up in hotels, they even get dental care? How about that?
“Most people can’t get an NHS dentist. This is not what normal countries do.”
The scheme would also see prefab detention camps built on surplus RAF and MoD land, holding up to 24,000 people within 18 months.
Inmates would be housed in two-man blocks with food halls and medical suites – and would not be allowed out.
Five deportation flights would take off every day, with RAF planes on standby if charter jets were blocked.
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