Europe isn’t alone in getting tough on refugee policy
07 Dec 2025
Far from being exceptional, mass deportations are becoming an increasingly common global tool
This article was first published in The Daily Telegraph.
In the United States, President Trump is carrying out mass deportations. The Department for Homeland Security has said that in 250 days, two million illegal immigrants were either deported or chose to leave. Of those, around 1.6 million self-deported, while 400,000 were deported by the authorities.
By the end of the year, a record-breaking 600,000 could be deported. That would be one of the largest mass deportations since the Eisenhower administration deported around 80,000 illegal immigrants in the 1950s. That has attracted criticism, but in the rest of the world this is increasingly the norm.
Just this year, Iran deported around 1.5 million Afghans back to their home country, trying to save face for their misfortunes in the conflict with Israel by accusing them of being spies who betrayed Iran. Around four million Afghans live in Iran, some of whom fled there in the 1970s, while others arrived recently, after the Taliban conquered the country again. Those who came to Iran before 2003 were issued Amayesh cards, that only offer short-term residency and limited access to support, as well as needing to be renewed regularly. Although the UNHCR considers Afghans with Amaresh cards to be refugees, the Iranian government doesn’t always agree.
Pakistan has also deported Afghans home under their Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan, after several terror attacks involving Afghan nationals. It is estimated that over 300,000 have been deported. Although Pakistan has hosted Afghans since the 1970s, they usually don’t accept them as refugees or offer them residency. Instead they are given Proof of Registration or an Afghan Citizens Card, both of which were temporary and need to be renewed on expiry. In June, the interior ministry announced that both cards were now expired, allowing for the deportation of anyone with one.
It isn’t just in the near east that such measures are the norm. Latin America too has suffered one of the world’s worst refugee crises in recent years, with nearly eight million Venezuelans fleeing their authoritarian socialist leaders. In Lima, the capital of Peru, around one in every 11 people living there is thought to be a Venezuelan. Although there was great sympathy at first, they have become an economic burden, while Venezuelan organised crime has infiltrated across Latin America.
The most notorious of these is Tren de Aragua, a violent criminal group which came to prominence after armed members of the gang were filmed in a Colorado apartment block. The USA is offering a reward of $5m for information leading to the arrest of the group’s leader. These criminals have used the Venezuelan refugee wave as a way to spread across the Americas, as well as using refugees as a recruiting ground or workers for exploitation. In Peruvian prisons, the number of Venezeulans soared from 48 to over 4,000. Complaints of extortion, the group’s main way to make money, went from 3,220 in 2018 to 21,831 in 2024.
That has been accompanied by serious violence. Venezeulan criminal groups in Peru like Los Gallegos have launched grenade attacks, dumped human remains on street corners in plastic bags, and burnt buses on the streets of the capital. Other migrants are often their first victims, with countless Venezeulan women promised jobs as waitresses in Peru, only to find themselves pushed into sexual exploitation.
Unsurprisingly, Latin American politicians are increasingly calling for mass deportations to deal with the problem. In Chile, they are promising to set up internment camps, use soldiers to deport illegal immigrants, and even going so far as to say they would put land mines on the border to prevent illegal entrants. Even the communist politician Jeannette Jara has said she would tighten border security and expel foreign drug dealers.
Recent polls show 92 per cent of Chileans want tougher immigration policies. As Venezuelan migrants fled Chile in advance of the upcoming election, Peru declared a state of emergency, closing their border with Chile to stop them fleeing there.
Far from being exceptional, mass deportations are becoming an increasingly common global tool. In a world where migration has become easy, many countries are facing unprecedented strain from its consequences, including terrorism and violent crime. Tackling mass migration requires mass deportations.
That holds true in Britain, where around one in every 13 people in London is thought to be an illegal immigrant. To restore law and order, as well as to rebuild our borders, mass deportations will be required.