Nigel Farage, the leader of the right-wing Reform UK party, slammed the Conservative and Labour parties after it was revealed this week thousands of Afghan refugees were secretly resettled into the country without the public’s knowledge.

Farage claimed some of those Afghans are sex offenders, sparking a row with the ruling Labour Party, which denied the claims. 

Around 4,500 Afghans have been relocated to the U.K. so far with around 6,900 expected to be relocated overall.

EUROPEAN NATIONS DEMAND POWER TO DEPORT IMMIGRANTS WHO COMMIT CRIMES

Meanwhile, waves of migrants continue arriving by boat, further inflaming public frustration over unchecked immigration.

“Amongst the number that have come are convicted sex offenders – I am not, I promise you, making any of this up, and the total cost of this operation has been a staggering £7 billion [$9 billion],” Farage said in a post on X.

“The numbers are off the charts, the cost is beyond comprehension and the threat to women walking the streets of this country, frankly, is incalculable.”

Relocating the 6,900 Afghans is expected to cost £850 million [$1.1 billion]. The £7 billion Farage referenced is likely the total cost of all Afghan resettlement programs since 2021 of about 36,000 Afghans through multiple schemes.

The British government earlier this week revealed it secretly resettled thousands of Afghan nationals in the U.K. after a catastrophic data breach exposed nearly 19,000 applicants who had worked with U.K. forces, an operation kept under wraps by a rare “super injunction” that barred even the mention of its existence. 

The injunction was lifted Tuesday in conjunction with a decision by Britain’s current Labour Party government to make the program public.

The national flag of the United Kingdom is displayed as British troops and service personnel remaining in Afghanistan are joined by International Security Assistance Force personnel and civilians for a Remembrance Sunday service at Kandahar Airfield Nov. 9, 2014, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.  (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

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A spreadsheet containing the personal information of the nearly 19,000 people who had applied to relocate to the U.K. after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was accidentally released in 2022 because of a defense official’s email error. The government only became aware of the leak when some of the data was published on Facebook 18 months later.

“I can’t think of a better example of the total incompetence, dishonesty and genuine lack of understanding of what the priorities of a British government are than this Afghan scandal,” Farage added. 

But U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey denied any known sex offenders had been allowed into the U.K. under the program and insisted everyone had been checked “carefully” for any criminal records

He said if Farage had any “hard evidence,” he should report it to the police.

Demonstrators hold placards as Afghans living in London and their supporters attend a protest called by Stand Up To Racism at the Home Office to demand that more refugees from Afghanistan be allowed into the U.K. Aug. 23, 2021, in London. (Guy Smallman; Getty)

“Anyone who has come into this country under any of the government schemes that was under the previous government and now from Afghanistan is checked carefully for security, checked carefully for any of those sort of criminal records that would preclude and prevent them coming to this country,” Healey told Times Radio, according to The Sun. 

British soldiers were sent to Afghanistan as part of an international deployment against al Qaeda and Taliban forces in the war on terror after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. At the peak of the operation, there were almost 10,000 U.K. troops in the country, mostly in Helmand province in the south.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Anti-immigration protests organised by the far-right Confederation Libery and Independence party took place in more than 80 cities across Poland, including in Warsaw, Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw, and Bialystok.

Demonstrators demanded the closure of the borders with Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and Slovakia.

“Enough of the years-long policy of ‘let everyone in, and who they are will be determined later’,” Krzysztof Bosak, one of Confederation party’s leaders, wrote on X.

“Polish women and men have the right to be concerned about the level of security in their own homeland,” he added.

In a speech at the start of the march, Bosak demanded the resignation of Donald Tusk’s government, the closure of the borders with Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and Slovakia to curb illegal immigration, and the permission for soldiers to shoot at people who cross the border illegally.

“Without closing Poland to illegal immigration, without launching a deportation operation, without renouncing political correctness, without equipping the Border Guard and the forces responsible for controlling the legality of residence, and without controlling the labour market, security will gradually deteriorate,” he said, calling for a change in policy.

The protests come shortly after Poland introduced border controls with Germany and Lithuania, which came into effect on 7 July.

On the Polish-German border, controls are in place at 52 places and on the Polish-Lithuanian border at 13.

The issue of migration has been widely up for debate, and a contentious topic in Polish politics, particularly as the country has experienced a rise in immigration in recent years.

In the first round of the presidential elections held in May, candidates of the far-right performed well, with Slawomir Mentzen of the Confederation Libery and Independence party and Grzegorz Braun of Confederation of the Polish Crown party coming in third and fourth, respectively.

Many believe that both candidates’ successes were due to their hardline stance on migration.

Interior ministers agree on asylum rules

On Friday, Poland and five other EU countries, agreed a set of targets for tightening asylum rules. During the meeting hosted by Germany’s interior minister, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz admitted that he was “pleased that Poland is carrying out border controls.”

Last year, Poland saw an increase in asylum applications due to the recurring crisis on its eastern border with Belarus, which has been ongoing since 2021.

As a result, the Polish parliament passed a law temporarily suspending the right to apply for asylum for those who crossed the Belarusian border.

Both Polish and European leaders have long accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating the influx of migrants to destabilise the EU.

On Saturday morning, the Ministry of Interior and Administration published statistics on the number of approvals issued for special protection for foreigners on X.

“In 2024, we issued 40 per cent fewer approvals for special protection for foreigners than in 2021. This is the result of a better managed system, our operations at the border and more efficient procedures,” the post read.

“The government is pursuing a responsible and well-considered migration policy, taking care of the stability and security of citizens,” it added.

Counter demonstrations in many cities

Counter-manifestations against the Confederation marches were also held in Warsaw, Katowice, Olsztyn and other cities on Saturday.

Demonstrators carried banners with the slogans: “Accept the refugees, delete the fascists,” “Action Democracy” and “We defend the right to asylum.”

“Everyone, regardless of their skin colour and origin, should feel comfortable not only in Poland, but also in Europe,” Maria Książak of the International Humanitarian Initiative Foundation said during the demonstration.