British plan for migrant detention centers in Green-voting areas causes uproar

MANCHESTER, England (CN) — A proposal by Reform UK to build migrant detention centers in areas that vote for the Green Party drew backlash from rights groups on Tuesday, with Amnesty International warning it risks turning immigration policy into political punishment.

The plan, unveiled Monday by Reform spokesperson Zia Yusuf and later by leader Nigel Farage, would prioritize Green-held constituencies for new detention sites while shielding areas that elect Reform candidates.

Yusuf said the approach reflects "democratic consent," adding that voters who back Reform would be guaranteed not to host facilities. The proposal marks a shift from the party's earlier pledge to place detention centers in remote locations.

It also comes days before local elections across England, Scotland and Wales, where Reform has surged in the polls and increasingly cast the Greens as a key rival.

Experts say the policy proposal is deeply alarming and could face challenges under human rights protections.

"Powers to detain must only ever be used sparingly and where strictly necessary," said Steve Valdez-Symonds, refugee and migrant rights program director at Amnesty International UK. "Threatening mass detention of migrants, and siting centers based on voting patterns as a form of political retribution, is an obscene and deeply alarming development."

He also flagged a broader concern: "the increasingly degraded and divisive tone of political debate, and the risks it poses to rights, dignity and social cohesion."

Reform has tied the policy to a broader plan to detain up to 24,000 people awaiting deportation within 18 months, an effort Yusuf acknowledged would be unprecedented in the U.K., though he pointed to similar approaches abroad.

The comparison has drawn attention to the U.S., where large-scale immigration detention has expanded under President Donald Trump.

Since Trump took office, the number of people held in detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has increased by 75%, reaching a record 73,000, according to the American Immigration Council.

In Britain, building that scale of detention estate would be costly, with an estimated price tag of more than $800,000 per bed.

Replicating that for 24,000 places would total roughly $19.5 billion.

Opposition politicians from across the spectrum condemned the proposal.

Anna Turley, a Labour lawmaker, said it showed "contempt for all voters," while Conservative lawmaker Simon Clarke called it "a form of political punishment for people and places that don't vote Reform."

"It would almost certainly be deemed an abuse of ministerial power for political purposes, and as such would likely be stuck down in court before ever being implemented, wasting millions for the taxpayer without detaining anyone," Clarke said.

The Greens, amid a late surge in polling, said the policy amounted to a threat against their voters.

Co-deputy leader Mothin Ali accused Reform of making "abhorrent announcements" to distract from other policies.

In Scotland, where planning law is controlled by the devolved Parliament in Edinburgh, the proposal faces additional hurdles. Any attempt to extend such a scheme north of the border would require consent from Scottish lawmakers, where pro-independence parties including the Scottish National Party dominate and are expected to oppose it.

Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer said the plan echoed tactics "straight out of the Trump playbook, where you punish people for voting a way that you didn't want."

"If the Greens weren't such a big threat to Reform, they wouldn't be saying anything about us," Greer said. "But they've spent the last few weeks incessantly going after the Greens. I think that shows that we've struck a nerve."

Reform has consistently led polling over the last 12 months while support for Labour and the Conservatives has collapsed.

The right-wing party, led by Nigel Farage, has focused on reducing legal and illegal immigration, pledging to stop small boat crossings across the English Channel, opposing net-zero climate policies and campaigning against what it calls "woke" institutions and high taxes.

Reform — which won its first local councilor in 2023 and first member of Parliament in 2024 — gained a wave of local representatives in May 2025, securing 677 seats across England and allowing the party to take control of 10 local authorities for the first time.

The party is now polling above 25% nationally and projected to gain more than 1,000 additional seats in Thursday's vote.

The Greens, expected to add hundreds of council seats, have emerged as a growing competitor, particularly in urban areas.

Zoe Gardner, an immigration researcher and campaigner, said the policy proposal reflected "a panic over the growing popularity of the Greens," describing it as a strategy designed to provoke rather than govern.

Any such policy would ultimately depend on gaining national power.

Reform is not in government, and local councils do not control immigration detention.

That means the proposal could only be tested if the party won a general election, something not expected until 2029.

Still, the political stakes are high for Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

If Labour performs poorly on Thursday, the prime minister could face renewed pressure from within his party.

Courthouse News reporter James Francis Whitehead is based in England.