Migrants crossing into UK illegally could be sent to Rwanda under new plans
Boris Johnson said it was "the humane" thing to do
Last updated 14th Apr 2022
Migrants crossing the English Channel in ways the government sees as illegal could be sent to Africa whilst their application is reviewed, under new government plans.
Speaking at the Maritime and Coast Guard Agency in Kent on Thursday (April 14th), the Prime Minister announced the multi-million pound deal with the central African country of Rwanda.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has been visiting the country and is expected to sign the deal which would see migrants flown almost 4,000 miles from the UK while the Home Office processes their application.
The scheme is due to cost an initial £120 million for the UK government, but has been criticised by refugee charities as a "cruel and nasty decision".
Those who are not sent to Rwanda whilst their applications are being reviewed are set to stay in tougher centres, with the first due to open in Linton-on-Ouse, in North Yorkshire.
Speaking to the media, Boris Johnson said that the measures would be "the humane and the compassionate thing to do", as co-operation with neighbouring France is intensified.
A lot of the co-operation with the French is excellent, and we just think it could go further," he said, adding in the meantime "what we need to do is have a more radical solution that enables us as the UK to offer our own package and to undermine the business case of the people traffickers and that's what we're doing, that's the purpose of this whole package," he said.
However, the move has been met with staunch opposition from the Labour Party and refugee charities who are comparing the plans to offering asylum seekers a one-way ticket.
Speaking to the PA Media Agency, Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK's refugee and migrant rights director, said that the African nation had a "dismal human rights record".
"Sending people to another country - let alone one with such a dismal human rights record - for asylum 'processing' is the very height of irresponsibility and shows how far removed from humanity and reality the Government now is on asylum issues," he said.
"The Government is already wrecking our asylum system at huge cost to the taxpayer while causing terrible anxiety to the people stuck in the backlogs it has created."
He went on: "But this shockingly ill-conceived idea will go far further in inflicting suffering while wasting huge amounts of public money."