Reform UK’s ICE-style deportation plan condemned as ‘sadistic’
Reform UK’s plan to create an ICE-style deportation agency has been condemned as “sadistic”, after the party’s home affairs spokesperson vowed to face down “progressive outrage”.Zia Yusuf, introduced as “the shadow home secretary” at a press conference in Dover, said mass deportations carried out by a planned UK Deportation Command would not trigger the same kind of violent showdowns seen in the US because “policing is done by consent” in the UK.He also described the number of migrants arriving in the country as an “invasion”.His remarks came as Reform set out plans to tackle immigration, including mass deportations, expanded surveillance powers and a ban on the conversion of churches into mosques.The party also wants to scrap indefinite leave to remain, replacing it with a renewable five-year work visa and dedicated spouse visa.
There would also be a new rule mandating automatic home searches for anyone referred to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme by three “separate, corroborating authorities”, the party said,Yusuf said the proposed UK Deportation Command would have the capacity to detain 24,000 people at any one time and deport up to 288,000 annually, operating five flights a day,As of April 2024 there were approximately 2,500 detention spaces, and experts have previously warned that expanding capacity on this scale would involve significant cost,On whether the party was prepared for US-style standoffs – including unrest seen in Minneapolis before and after the killings of the 37-year-old residents Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal agents – Yusuf said Reform would not be deterred,“Do we have the resolve to stand up to progressive outrage against perfectly legitimate enforcement of the law in this country? Then the answer is: we will never flinch in the face of that,” he said.
However, he argued that similar scenes were unlikely in the UK, adding that officers would not be armed.“I’ve spent a lot of time in America, and there are more firearms in America than humans.There are many problems in this country, but thankfully we don’t have that problem,” Yusuf said.“I don’t envy anyone who has to do that job of law enforcement in America, where that is true.So many people, particularly criminals, are carrying firearms.
“This notion that we’re going to have the same issues that come sharply into focus internationally as a result of Trump’s ICE programme? It’s just not true.We would not expect UK deportation command to need to carry weapons.Yusuf reiterated his claim that Britain was being “invaded”.“I know many in the establishment gasp at that word.They may well clutch their pearls in the television studios, but the dictionary definition of invasion is an incursion by a large number of people in an unwanted way.
“Make no mistake, as home secretary I will end and indeed reverse this invasion, because the patience of the British people is now exhausted.”The party has said it will impose “visa freezes” on Pakistan, Afghanistan and Syria if those countries refused to accept the return of migrants with no legal right to remain in Britain.A brief policy document states that a government led by Nigel Farage would seek to deport more than 600,000 people in its first parliament.This could include a large number of individuals holding indefinite leave to remain, which would be retrospectively revoked if they failed to qualify for the proposed time-limited visas.Another proposal would criminalise “any act that assists or encourages illegal entry”, punishable by up to two years in prison.
The party has named the measure the “Polanski law”, after the Green party leader, Zack Polanski, who has argued that the UK should take in more asylum seekers via official routes,Polanski dismissed the proposal as “desperate posturing”,Migrants’ rights organisations have reacted with anger,Dora-Olivia Vicol, the chief executive of the Work Rights Centre, said: “We have watched in horror as ICE attacked migrant communities and citizens in the US – yet this is what Reform wants to base their immigration policies on?“This is a sadistic vision of UK families and communities being ripped apart, money being wasted, and the government turning against its own people,”Natasha Tsangarides, an associate director at Freedom from Torture, said: “Yusuf’s speech was a grotesque display of ethnonationalist, authoritarian cruelty.
His divisive and dangerous proposals threaten to divide families and wreak terror and chaos in our communities.”
US farmers are rejecting multimillion-dollar datacenter bids for their land: ‘I’m not for sale’
When two men knocked on Ida Huddleston’s door last May, they carried a contract worth more than $33m in exchange for the Kentucky farm that had fed her family for centuries.According to Huddleston, the men’s client, an unnamed “Fortune 100 company”, sought her 650 acres (260 hectares) in Mason county for an unspecified industrial development. Finding out any more would require signing a non-disclosure agreement.More than a dozen of her neighbors received the same knock. Searching public records for answers, they discovered that a new customer had applied for a 2
Amazon’s cloud ‘hit by two outages caused by AI tools last year’
Amazon’s huge cloud computing arm reportedly experienced at least two outages caused by its own artificial intelligence tools, raising questions about the company’s embrace of AI as it lays off human employees.A 13-hour interruption to Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) operations in December was caused by an AI agent, Kiro, autonomously choosing to “delete and then recreate” a part of its environment, the Financial Times reported.AWS, which provides vital infrastructure for much of the internet, suffered several outages last year.One incident, in October, downed dozens of sites for hours and prompted discussion over the concentration of online services on infrastructure owned by a few massive companies. AWS has won 189 UK government contracts worth £1
‘It’s survival of the fittest’: the UK kebab chain seeking an edge with robot slicers
They are already packing our groceries and delivering shopping. Now robots are coming to the kebab shop, alongside self-service screens and loyalty apps, as takeaways look for ways to tackle rising costs.German Doner Kebab (GDK), a perhaps surprisingly British-owned chain that has been springing up across the country, has turned to technology to keep its fast food business buzzing in the face of rising costs and tough times on the high street.With households cooking at home more often to save money, and restaurants facing increases in energy bills, business rates, national insurance and hourly pay, profits are under pressure despite rising prices at the till.“It is survival of the fittest,” says Simon Wallis, the CEO of the brand, which operates via dozens of franchise partners running 155 outlets in the UK and nearly 40 more overseas including in the US, Dubai, Ireland and Sweden
Nascent tech, real fear: how AI anxiety is upending career ambitions
Matthew Ramirez started at Western Governors University as a computer science major in 2025, drawn by the promise of a high-paying, flexible career as a programmer. But as headlines mounted about tech layoffs and AI’s potential to replace entry-level coders, he began to question whether that path would actually lead to a job.When the 20-year-old interviewed for a datacenter technician role that June and never heard back, his doubts deepened. In December, Ramirez decided on what he thought was a safer bet: turning away from computer science entirely. He dropped his planned major to instead apply to nursing school
Nvidia reportedly plans to invest $30bn in OpenAI’s next funding round
Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, is reportedly planning to invest $30bn (£22bn) in OpenAI’s next funding round, after a $100bn deal between the two dissolved earlier this month.The maker of ChatGPT is expected to be valued at $730bn in the funding round, almost twice the valuation of Anthropic, one of its main rivals, which raised $30bn earlier this month.Nvidia’s announcement of a $100bn investment in OpenAI last September drove the chipmaker’s stock to more than $5tn and led to fervent discussion about circular deals between the largest players in artificial intelligence.The investment, which the chipmaker framed as a “letter of intent”, would have involved Nvidia giving OpenAI money to buy and deploy its chips for its AI infrastructure.That all appeared to change earlier this month, when reports surfaced that Nvidia’s intent was never a firm commitment – and OpenAI was looking elsewhere for chips to power its systems
Mind launches inquiry into AI and mental health after Guardian investigation
Mind is launching a significant inquiry into artificial intelligence and mental health after a Guardian investigation exposed how Google’s AI Overviews gave people “very dangerous” medical advice.In a year-long commission, the mental health charity, which operates in England and Wales, will examine the risks and safeguards required as AI increasingly influences the lives of millions of people affected by mental health issues worldwide.The inquiry – the first of its kind globally – will bring together the world’s leading doctors and mental health professionals, as well as people with lived experience, health providers, policymakers and tech companies. Mind says it will aim to shape a safer digital mental health ecosystem, with strong regulation, standards and safeguards.The launch comes after the Guardian revealed how people were being put at risk of harm by false and misleading health information in Google AI Overviews
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UK job vacancies ‘fall to lowest level since pandemic’