Police will be ordered to check immigration statuses of everyone they arrest

Police officers will be ordered to check the immigration status of everyone they arrest as part of Tory plans to deport 150,000 illegal migrants a year.

Frontline bobbies will be "mandated" to cross-reference details of suspects against "biometric borders data" held by the Home Office.

And a new Removals Force - modelled on America's ICE agency - will be able to use facial recognition technology "without warning signs" to detect illegal migrants hiding in plain sight.

This could see teams springing out from hidden locations after monitoring an area with facial recognition cameras to detain and deport people living illegally in the UK.

A Conservative Home Secretary would create a "statutory duty" for officers to check a suspect's immigration status and make it one of chiefs' top priorities through a "strategic policing requirement", the Daily Express understands.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Daily Express: "There are over one million people in this country illegally and there are 20,000 serious foreign criminals who should be deported.

"The only way we will end this and remove them is to leave the ECHR.

"Ensuring the police always check the immigration status of anyone they encounter, especially foreign criminals, will show them and illegal immigrants they have no place in our country.

"This also shows we are serious about fixing Labour's border crisis."

The Conservatives' plan states: "Removals Force will have double the budget of the current Immigration Enforcement.

"This will be funded from closing the asylum hotels and the wider costs of our out-of-control asylum system, which amount to £4.76bn a year.

"This Removals Force will have sweeping new powers. For example, we will change the law to allow Removals Force to use facial recognition systems without warning signs to identify, detail and remove illegal immigrants.

"The police will be mandated to check all those they stop or arrest against biometric borders data and all those who are not here legally will then be deported by Removals Force.

"We would expect Removals Force to integrate closely with the police."

The Tories on Sunday launched a seven-point plan to fix Britain's migrant and asylum crisis.

Some 34,400 migrants have crossed the Channel this year.

And a record 110,000 claimed asylum during Sir Keir Starmer's first 12 months in office.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch declared she will leave the European Convention on Human Rights, ban illegal migrants from claiming asylum, deport 150,000 people a year, remove illegal arrivals within a week, abolish the immigration tribunal system and ramp up support for allies.

Anyone who has entered the UK illegally will be banned for making an asylum claim. As well as pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights, the UK would repeal the Human Rights Act and abandon the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings (ECAT).

The Tories say this would stop the illegal migrants and foreign criminals staying in Britain on "flimsy claims".

But the Conservatives stopped short of promising to quit the Refugee Convention.

They will "instead amend domestic legislation substantially to raise the threshold for an asylum claim to be successful.

"Parliament, not a European or British court, will set out the interpretation of the convention."

The plans are intended to result in the "removal of all new illegal arrivals within a week and all foreign criminals".

Fears are also intensifying that Russia and Belarus could flood Europe with 15,000 migrants a month.

The Robert Lansing Institute warned a "high scale, destabilisation wave" would see between 70,000 and 100,000 people arrive in 150 days.

This would require four to five flights a day, likely from Benghazi, Al Bayda, Tobruk and military airstrips.

Belarus could even jet 10,000 people into Europe under the guide of "tourism charters", researchers warned.

And the Kremlin would weaponise the crisis to create propaganda by framing "EU countries as inhumane... showing images of migrants stranded in forests or facing border guards."

The Robert Lansing Institute said: "Since early-mid 2025 authorities and analysts have flagged an unexpected rise in air traffic linking eastern Libya (notably Benghazi) and Minsk.

"European institutions are alarmed because the pattern resembles earlier Belarus-mediated migration operations and coincides with an intensification of Russian military, paramilitary, and logistical activity in Libya."

They added: "Libya's civil-war fragmentation means airports in the east (Benghazi and nearby fields) are under different control than Tripoli; operators and local power-brokers can authorize nonstandard charter activity.

"We have noted expanding Russian military and logistical activity in eastern Libya, and increased use of Libyan facilities by outside actors."

Mr Philp added: "Putin is trying to weaponise illegal immigration to destabilise the West.

"This illustrates the need for radical action to end illegal immigration.

"Otherwise, we are playing into enemy hands."

Mrs Badenoch has vowed to block candidates from standing for the Conservatives if they do not believe in quitting the ECHR.

She told GB News: "I was very clear at the shadow cabinet where we agreed completely, it was unanimous, that we cannot have a party where people do not abide by manifesto commitments.

"If you do not agree with leaving the ECHR, then you should not and cannot stand as a Conservative candidate at the next election. They can be in the party but they cannot stand as MPs.

"We don't remove people for having slightly different views on policy but if you want to be a Member of Parliament, as a Conservative, then you need to understand that leaving the ECHR is a manifesto commitment."

The Tories have also vowed to deploy Royal Navy and Border Force vessels in the Mediterranean Sea to stop migrants reaching Europe entirely.

The party said: "Illegal immigration is a problem faced by our European allies.

"We must work closely with them to stop illegal immigration to Europe.

"We will deploy UK assets, including intelligence, police and maritime resources, to help allies enforce their borders and prevent people entering Europe."

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood dismissed claims the plans were bolder than her own to stop Channel migrant crossings.

Ms Mahmood told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: "you say bold and I say totally lacking in any credibility whatsoever.

"These are people that had 14 years to do something about these problems, in fact, these problems grew on their watch, in their last year in office, removals were through the floor, and since this government has been in power we have increased removals of people from this country who have no right to be here.

"We've increased the number of foreign offenders being deported from this country as well. Frankly, I think the Tories need to explain why they failed over 14 years."

Reform UK, which has vowed to deport 600,000 illegal migrants within its first five years in office branded Mrs Badenoch's plan "desperate".

Reform's chairman, Dr David Bull, said: " "This is a desperate, large ditch attempt to have some sort of credibility and semblance of actually being able to do something.

"In fact, when I read that policy last night, my mouth dropped open, because it's pretty much a copy and paste of the policy that we launched some month or so ago, Operation Restoring Justice.

"And when Chris Philip talks this morning about the fact that we put it together on the back of a fag packet, I think that's pretty rich coming from the Conservative Party who did nothing about our porous borders over 14 years."