Controversial UK government plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda cleared parliament on Monday following a lengthy battle between the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The marathon debate extended late into the night.
Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation bill is set to become law after peers ultimately relented on amending it, paving the way for potential legal challenges over the deportation of numerous asylum seekers.
Following an extended back-and-forth between the Commons and the Lords, the bill finally secured passage on Monday night, ending a marathon battle of “ping pong” over its key provisions.
Expected to receive royal assent on Tuesday, Home Office sources disclosed plans to identify a group of asylum seekers with uncertain legal claims to remain in the UK. They are slated to be among the initial batch to be deported to East Africa in July.
Sunak has pushed the bill, intending to deport asylum seekers who arrive in the UK via irregular means to Kigali, at the forefront of his efforts to halt small boat crossings in the Channel.
Home Secretary James Cleverly hailed it as a “landmark moment” in the government’s strategy to deter such crossings.
However, Denisa Delić, Director of Advocacy at the International Rescue Committee UK, criticized the approach, deeming it ineffective, needlessly harsh, and costly. She urged the government to prioritize a more humane and orderly immigration system domestically instead of outsourcing its legal obligations abroad.
“This includes scaling up safe routes, such as resettlement and family reunion, and upholding the right to seek asylum.”
The Home Office has narrowed down the list to 350 migrants considered the least likely to successfully challenge their deportation.
Legal experts anticipate preparing individual challenges on behalf of asylum seekers. These challenges could result in individuals being removed from the deportation list.
Under the bill, detainees facing “real, imminent, and foreseeable risk of serious irreversible harm if removed to Rwanda” can appeal within eight days of receiving a deportation notice. The Home Office then has several days to respond. If the initial appeal is rejected, asylum seekers have seven days to make a final appeal to an upper tribunal court, which will decide within 23 days.
The deal is expected to cost £1.8 million for each of the first 300 deportees, according to the National Audit Office.
Matthew Rycroft, the top civil servant at the Home Office overseeing the scheme for two years, previously told MPs he lacked evidence to demonstrate its deterrent effect, questioning its value for money.
There are private concerns among Home Office staff about the risk of thousands of asylum seekers vanishing once removals commence, seeking to evade notification of deportation to Kigali.
Earlier, MPs removed amendments to the bill introduced by the Lords. Crossbench and Labour peers indicated intentions to reintroduce similar changes in a test of resolve.
During debates on Monday evening, a Home Office minister assured peers that individuals eligible under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) would not be sent to Rwanda.
Lord Sharpe stated, “Once this review of Arap decisions for those with credible links to Afghan specialist units has concluded, the government will not remove to Rwanda those who received a positive eligibility decision as a result of this review where they are already in the UK as of today.”
Lord Browne, a former Labour defence secretary leading calls for assurances, stated, “The minister sees this not as a concession but as a reaffirmation of what he’s been stating for some time, albeit in a different manner.”
Independent crossbench peer Lord Anderson of Ipswich commented on the Rwanda scheme, saying, “Its benefits are yet to be seen. Its costs, however, will be measured not just in monetary terms, but in compromised principles: neglect of international commitments, sidestepping legal protections for the vulnerable, and the erosion of judicial oversight on Rwanda’s safety.”
The prime minister revealed that the first deportation flights to Rwanda were scheduled to depart in 10 to 12 weeks, missing his initial spring deadline.
During a press conference on Monday morning, he emphasized the government’s determination to bypass any foreign court rulings obstructing flights to Rwanda, vowing to end the prolonged legal battles associated with deportation flights.
Labour criticized Sunak for wrongly attributing delays in the Rwanda bill to the party’s peers.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper stated, “The Tories hold the majority in both Houses of Parliament and could have scheduled the bill’s final stages a month ago. They opted to postpone it, always seeking someone else to blame.”
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