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Sunak is determined to revive the UK government’s blocked plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda without breaching international law as many legal experts said that’s wishful thinking, and critics urged the government to ditch a plan they say is costing millions and harming Britain’s international reputation.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said recently that the number of illegal migrants crossing into the UK is down by a third and claimed that the decline in the number of illegal immigrants was due to the right steps being taken by his government. He was speaking at a Worksop in Nottinghamshire recently.
He also said he was determined to revive the UK government’s blocked plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda without breaching international law. Many legal experts said that’s wishful thinking, and critics urged the government to ditch a plan they say is costing millions and harming Britain’s international reputation.
It may be recalled that the UK Supreme Court quashed the government’s plan, saying Rwanda is not a safe country where migrants can be sent. Despite the justices’ unanimous verdict, the British government doubled down on the policy, which it says will deter people from around the world from making life-threatening journeys across the English Channel in small boats. Sunak said he’s negotiating a treaty with the Rwandan government to close loopholes in the plan, including a block on Rwanda sending migrants home. The government says once that risk has been removed, it will pass a law through Parliament declaring that Rwanda is a safe country.
It has been more than a year and a half since the U.K. struck a deal with Rwanda to send migrants who arrive in the U.K. as stowaways or in boats to the East African country, where their asylum claims would be processed and, if successful, they would stay. Britain says that will deter people from making the journey and break the business model of people-smuggling gangs. Critics say it is both unethical and unworkable to send migrants to a country 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) away, with no chance of ever settling in the U.K.
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Much of Europe and the U.S. are struggling with how best to cope with migrants seeking refuge from war, violence, oppression, and a warming planet that has brought devastating drought and floods. Britain receives fewer asylum applications than countries such as Italy, France, or Germany. Thousands of migrants from around the world travel to northern France each year in hopes of crossing the English Channel. More than 27,300 have done that so far this year.
