Nigel Farage has said charities and volunteers who help asylum seekers reach the UK should face potential criminal prosecution.

The Reform UK leader made the remarks in an interview with Benny Johnson, a right-wing American podcaster who has previously written for outlets including Breitbart News.

Discussing small boat crossings, which he described as "literally an invasion of people who could cause us enormous harm", Farage was asked: "Do you believe in criminal penalties for those who facilitated this invasion of the English Isles?"

He replied: "Totally, totally. The role of the NGOs, the role of those that are sponsored by taxpayers' money, because they're nice, they're good, they're kind. They have actually aided and abetted criminality in absolutely every way."

He went on: "These are people who are deluded – deluded, hard-left socialist Marxists, who don't believe in countries, don't believe in borders, don't believe in identities, are intent on destroying everything that exists."

Who would be targeted?

Farage did not say which organisations should face charges, and a Reform spokesperson said only that his comments "speak for themselves".

But he and other senior Reform figures have been heavily critical of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), whose crews rescue people in difficulty in the Channel. Farage has previously described the charity as a "migrant taxi service". Rescuing asylum seekers makes up only a small part of the RNLI's lifesaving work around the UK and Irish coasts.

The RNLI has faced a campaign of intimidation over its Channel work. Some Reform figures have shared footage of far-right protesters abusing lifeboat crews as they brought people ashore.

The charity has consistently said it is legally and morally bound to rescue anyone in danger at sea, regardless of who they are or how they came to be there.

Echoes of Hungary

Critics say calls to prosecute charities for their work echo the approach taken by Hungary's former prime minister, Viktor Orbán, whose government introduced laws targeting organisations that assisted migrants.

Supporters of tougher measures argue that some groups encourage dangerous crossings by making the journey appear safer, and that the state should act against anyone who helps people enter the country unlawfully.

'Your show will be illegal'

Elsewhere in the interview, Farage repeatedly raised the issue of Muslim asylum seekers, saying European countries were "importing" people who would "make our way of life potentially unrecognisable". He told Johnson that if Donald Trump were followed by a "weak politician", the US podcaster's show could be "illegal in five or 10 years' time" under hate speech laws.

He also speculated that five UK nationals arrested near RAF Fairford last month, and later bailed, had been carrying out "a dummy run for a proper terrorist attack on UK forces" – claims that have not been made by police – and accused the authorities of "two-tier policing".

A sharper message abroad

Farage has a record of using more robust language with American audiences than he typically does at home, and has appeared several times on programmes hosted by the far-right broadcaster Alex Jones.

His comments are likely to intensify the political row over Channel crossings. Home Office figures show more than 20,400 people have arrived by small boat so far this year, down 40% on the same period last year, while the government is also using visa threats against countries that refuse to take back their nationals.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats are expected to seize on the remarks as evidence that Reform would criminalise charitable and humanitarian work. Reform supporters will see them as Farage saying out loud what many voters feel about the crossings.

Either way, the idea of putting rescuers in the dock has now moved from the fringes of social media to the lips of the leader of a party that regularly tops national opinion polls.