LONDON, England
The UK expects to deport nearly 6,000 migrants to Rwanda this year, a senior minister said Tuesday, after the government published new details on the controversial scheme.
The figures come days after
the plan aimed at deterring migrant arrivals on small boats from northern
Europe became law following months of parliamentary wrangling.
Rwanda has "in
principle" agreed to accept 5,700 migrants already in the UK, the interior
ministry revealed late Monday.
Of those, 2,143 "can be
located for detention" before being flown there, according to the
ministry.
Law enforcement agencies will
find the remainder, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said Tuesday when asked
about the 5,700 earmarked for deportation.
"The expectation is that
we remove that group of people... by the end of the year," she told Sky
News television.
"If somebody doesn't
report as they should do... They will be found."
Migrants who arrived in the UK between January 2022 and June last year are liable to have their asylum claims deemed inadmissible and be removed to Rwanda, the interior ministry said.
More than 57,000 people
arrived on small boats after trying to cross the Channel during this 18-month
period, according to official statistics.
The figure underlines the
scale of the challenge trying to stem irregular arrivals, and the limits of the
government's contentious plan to send some of them to Rwanda.
Under the scheme—set to cost
UK taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds—their asylum claims will be
examined by Kigali.
If approved, they will be
allowed to stay in Rwanda and not return to the UK.
Rwanda, home to 13 million
people in Africa's Great Lakes region, lays claim to being one of the most
stable countries on the continent and has drawn praise for its modern
infrastructure.
But rights groups accuse
veteran President Paul Kagame of ruling in a climate of fear, stifling dissent
and free speech.
UK lawmakers last week passed
the Safety of Rwanda Bill, which compels British judges to regard the nation as
a safe third country.
It followed a UK Supreme Court
ruling last year that said sending migrants on a one-way ticket there was
illegal.
The new law also gives
decision-makers on asylum applications the power to disregard sections of
international and domestic human rights law.
UK opposition parties, UN
agencies and various rights groups have criticised the flagship policy of Prime
Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative government.
He said last week that
deportation flights are expected to begin within 10-12 weeks.
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