Nigel Farage’s plan to place migrant detention centres in Green areas branded ‘vengeful gimmick’

Parties across the political spectrum have hit out at Reform’s ‘vengeful’ policy to place migrant deportation centres in Green areas.

Nigel Farage has said he will prioritise setting up immigration removal centres in areas controlled by the Greens because of the party’s ‘open borders policy’.

Areas that vote in a Reform MP would be guaranteed not to have a detention centre and it would be placed in a Green voting area, Nigel Farage announced from outside the Epping Bell Hotel.
His party has pledged to deport up to 288,000 illegal migrants a year if it wins the next general election.

Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe called Reform’s policy a ‘vengeful gimmick’.

He said: ‘Reform want to vindictively target Brits in potential Green constituencies to make a point and house illegals next to them – that is their choice.

Want to understand more about how politics affects your life?

Metro's senior politics reporter Craig Munro breaks down all the chaos into easy to follow insight, in Metro's politics newsletter Alright, Gov?

Sent every Wednesday.

Sign up here.

‘But I don’t believe that we have time for this petty nonsense.

A Restore Britain Government will not abandon residents of those constituencies who have a Green MP elected on 25% of the vote.

That is not fair, and more importantly – it is not efficient.’
He added: ‘Putting British women at risk to make a vindictive political point is abhorrent.’
Green Party councillor Jack Lenox, hit back.

He said: ‘Reform wants an ICE-style deportation agency, modelled on the American system.

Since September, ICE agents have shot 14 people and killed two US citizens.

‘There have been 24 further deaths in custody.

Children as young as five have been taken into ICE custody.

That’s what they call “taking back control.”’
‘So when Zia Yusuf calls our policy “reckless and dangerous”, and Labour calls it “financially reckless” – ask yourself: compared to what?

Compared to twenty years of enforced limbo?

Compared to a deportation agency that kills people?’
It came as the Green Party appeared to hide its migration policy from public view on its website, after it became the focus of attacks from the government and Reform.

Until at least March, the public was able to view a list of principles and objectives that were decided by party members in spring 2023.

The first principle reads: ‘The Green Party wants to see a world without borders, until this happens the Green Party will implement a fair and humane system of managed immigration where people can move if they wish to do so.’
She said: ‘To some, this might seem like harmless student politics.

But the danger and the possible damage is real.’
Yusuf said the Green Party’s position justified his plan to focus the construction of migrant detention centres in Green-controlled areas if Reform wins power at the next general election.

A Green Party spokesperson said the idea was ‘abhorrent’ and ‘disgusting’, adding: ‘Greens are focused on building council housing, fixing our public services and bringing down the cost of living.’
But any member of the public seeking clarification on the Green position can no longer find any mention of it on the party’s website.

According to the Internet Archive, two pages explaining the policy were still accessible to all in March.

In a blog post that month, Lancaster Green Party councillor Jack Lenox hinted that the details were moved to a portal that could only be accessed by party members.

He wrote that the policy was ‘publicly available on our website for years’, before saying: ‘It was moved behind a members-only login because journalists – including the Mail – kept misrepresenting it as our manifesto.’
Later, Lenox adds that the party is ‘proud of that aspiration [for a borderless world]’ and ‘honest about the pathway to get there’.

Asked about the policy in a tense appearance on Good Morning Britain last week, Polanski instead deflected to talk about host Ed Balls’ links to the Labour Party.

However, he told Sky News in December that open borders were ‘not a situation we can move to right now’ amid ‘political turmoil’ and emphasised that open borders had never been included in a Green Party manifesto.

The party’s 2024 manifesto did not mention the ambition, calling only for an end to the ‘hostile environment’, an end to minimum income thresholds for spouses of those on work visas, and the establishment of safe routes to sanctuary for people fleeing danger.

The Green Party has been contacted for comment.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.