Britain’s Prime Minister Vows Migrant Deportation Flights to Rwanda Will Start Soon
The effort to fly migrants to Rwanda is a response to tens of thousands of people that have crossed the English Channel as criminal gangs smuggle migrants by boat.
Britain is set to start deporting illegal migrants to Rwanda, after the Parliament on Tuesday approved the Safety of Rwanda Bill pushed by Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak.
The migrant crisis in Britain has been escalating in recent years — in 2022, more than 45,000 migrants arrived in Britain on small boats, up from only 299 four years earlier, the Associated Press notes, as people seeking asylum pay smugglers thousands to take them on a dangerous trip across the English Channel.
“For almost two years, our opponents have used every trick in the book to block flights and keep the boats coming, but enough is enough,” Mr. Sunak said in a news conference on Monday, referring to the House of Lords, which had been refusing to back the legislation without additional amendments. “Parliament will sit there tonight and vote no matter how late it goes. No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to Rwanda.”
The legislation will serve as a deterrent to “finally break the business model of the criminal gangs and save lives,” Mr. Sunak said, adding that a slew of preparations are underway for the flights, which are expected to begin within weeks.
“Starting from the moment that the bill passes, we will begin the process of removing those identified for the first flight,” he said. “We have prepared for this moment. To detain people while we prepare to remove them, we’ve increased detention spaces to 2,200. To quickly process claims, we’ve got 200 trained, dedicated case workers ready and waiting.”
The judiciary has made 25 courtrooms available and has identified 150 available judges to deal with any legal cases that arise, he added.
The deportation efforts are already facing fierce backlash from human rights groups, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, who fears it will undermine “international cooperation” and set a “worrying global precedent.”
“The new legislation marks a further step away from the UK’s long tradition of providing refuge to those in need, in breach of the Refugee Convention,” Mr. Grandi said in a statement. “Protecting refugees requires all countries — not just those neighboring crisis zones — to uphold their obligations.”
