Immigration Minister Vows to See Rwanda Deportation Plan Through

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick prepares to speak to the media outside BBC Broadcasting House in London on Oct. 22, 2023. Stefan Rousseau/PA

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick vowed to do “whatever it takes” to push through the plan to deport illegal immigrants to Rwanda even if the Supreme Court rules against the policy on Wednesday.

It comes as Suella Braverman, the most vocal Cabinet minister on restricting immigration, was replaced as home secretary by Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Monday, after she published an opinion article which Downing Street said it didn’t authorise.

In an interview with The Telegraph during his visit to Bulgaria on Monday, hours after the Cabinet reshuffle,  Mr. Jenrick said the government is aiming at stopping the boats “in their entirety” before the next general election but the goal can’t be achieved without the Rwanda policy.

The minister also said he wants an urgent and “fundamental reform” of the immigration system to reduce the overall level of it.

Newly appointed Home Secretary James Cleverly leaves 10. Downing Street, London on Nov. 13, 2023. James Manning/PA

The Illegal Migration Act, which became law on July 20, bans anyone from making asylum claims in the UK if they enter via unregulated routes.

The government’s flagship deal with Rwanda to put the UK’s illegal immigrants on a one-way flight to the African country and not allow them to return regardless of whether their asylum claims are successful or not is central to its plan to stop people struggling across the English Channel on small boats, but critics of the policy say it’s too costly and unworkable.

The deportation plan never took flight since it was announced in April last year as the first plane was emptied by the European Court of Human Rights.

The High Court then ruled that the policy was lawful, but the ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeal, with a majority of judges saying problems in Rwanda’s asylum system mean refugees could be deported to their home countries in breach of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The Supreme Court is expected to hand out its ruling on Wednesday.

‘No Ifs, No Buts”

Mr. Jenrick suggested a potential defeat in the Supreme Court won’t stop ministers from pushing the policy through.

“Be assured that as a prudent government, we have been thinking through what further steps we could take,” the minister told The Telegraph.

“We have to ensure the Rwanda policy succeeds before the next general election. No ifs, no buts, we will do whatever it takes to ensure that happens,“ he said, adding that he’s ”sure“ that the new home secretary ”shares our belief that we have to stop the boats.”

“If the UK wants to turn the good progress we’ve made this year into stopping the boats entirely, we have to implement the Rwanda policy,” he added.

Mr. Jenrick said the boats can’t be stopped without the Rwanda policy and that “you have to inject a major deterrent into the system, and you have to get the flights off.”

Asked if the government’s alternative plan involved leaving the ECHR, he said, “I’ve been clear that we have to do whatever it takes.”

In April, Mr. Cleverly told the Guardian that he was “not convinced” the UK should join the “small club” of “European countries which are not part of the ECHR,” although he added, “That is not suggesting that the interpretation of human rights by judges is something I think has worked well.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference in Manchester on Oct. 3, 2023. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Ms. Braverman in September, criticised “NGOs and others including the U.N. refugee agency” during a speech to a U.S. think tank, saying they had contested the interpretation of the Refugee Convention that people should seek refuge and claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. The then-home secretary also refused to rule out taking the UK out of ECHR.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, the new home secretary has said he’s “absolutely committed to stopping the boats.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to scrap the Rwanda policy irrespective of what the Supreme Court says, saying the policy is “hugely expensive” and won’t work.

The Liberal Democrats have pledged to scrap the Illegal Migration Act on “day one of a Liberal Democrat administration,” saying there’s “no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker.”

Jenrick: Governments Betrayed Brexit Pledge

Mr. Jenrick also spoke against the UK’s post-Brexit system for legal migration, saying the Conservative governments have “betray the [Brexit] promise” to reduce migration.

“Net migration is far too high,“ the immigration minister said. ”For more than 30 years, the British public have been voting for controlled migration. But politicians of all stripes have failed to deliver the migration system that they’re seeking.

“When we left the European Union, we took back control of the levers of migration. But then we went on to betray the promise by failing to establish a system which significantly reduced levels of migration. I want to see fundamental reform of our system, and that needs to happen as a matter of urgency,” the minister said.

The Conservative government under Boris Johnson established a “point-based” immigration system after Brexit to “take back control” of Britain’s borders, but critics have accused the government of reinterpreting the Brexit vote as a vote for controlled, but not necessarily reduced, immigration.

After international borders reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK’s net migration hit record highs, reaching an estimated 606,000 in the year 2022, almost doubled the estimate for the year ending March 2020, although the figures may not be directly comparable because of different estimation methods. Ad-hoc humanitarian programmes for the Ukrainians, Hongkongers, and some Afghans contributed to the increase.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Home Office for comments.