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Reform UK’s mass deportation proposal is ‘devoid of Jewish values’, argues refugee support charity
HIAS+JCORE said Nigel Farage’s party and the Far Right have ‘dominated’ the conversation around refugees for too long
August 29, 2025 14:01
HIAS+JCORE said Nigel Farage’s party and the Far Right have ‘dominated’ the conversation around refugees for too long
August 29, 2025 14:01British Jewry’s preeminent refugee support charity has issued a strong warning against Reform UK’s mass deportation proposal as being at odds with core Jewish values.
Commenting Nigel Farage’s plan to deport hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants from the country if elected, HIAS+JCORE, which supports refugees and fights racism, said: “As an organisation led by Jewish values and history, we say: enough is enough”.
The charity claimed Reform’s asylum proposals “show what happens when populist, far-right ideas go unchecked. As a community, we must be aware about where this can lead.”
“Was it not us who needed support and welcome when we arrived as refugees, just decades ago?” the charity continued. “We cannot turn our backs on those who need that same protection today.”
Earlier this week, Reform announced its intention to deport approximately 600,000 asylum seekers over its first five-year term in office under an initiative dubbed “Operation Restoring Justice”. The figure was arrived at based on the party’s estimation of the number of illegal immigrants in the country and not official government records.
Largescale detention infrastructure and sweeping legal reforms would purportedly be required to enable the proposed mass deportations, including leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and suspending UK participation in key international treaties.
In a statement to the JC, HIAS+JCORE said the community should “rebuff Reform’s plans, which are so devoid of our core Jewish values of compassion, responsibility, and solidarity”.
They argued that plans for “for mass deportation, to withdraw from international conventions born from the horrors of the Holocaust, to return vulnerable people to some of the world’s most dangerous regimes...must be rejected outright”.
The charity also took aim at the Home Office’s plans to halve the time asylum seekers are given to find new accommodation from 56 days to 28 after they are granted asylum.
A HIAS+ JCORE spokesperson said: “For too long, the far right’s division and hatred has dominated the conversation on refuge and asylum. Now, we need a new approach. Our political leaders can no longer shy away from making the case for welcome – and that must start with reversing the appalling decision to halve the current 56-day move-on period for new refugees, a change which will force people into destitution and homelessness.”
“It’s not too late to show that an approach grounded in fairness, dignity, and respect can work for all. Our country must always be there for those who need our protection.”
A government spokesperson said they had "inherited a broken asylum and immigration system" and were "taking practical steps to turn that chaos around".
They added that they "work with local councils, NGOs and other stakeholders to ensure any necessary assistance is provided for those individuals who are granted refugee status".
They said that families, pregnant women, people over the age of 65 and those with disabilities would continue to be given 56 days until December, when the policy would be reviewed again.
Reform UK has been approached for comment.
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