The UK government wants to send the first batch of illegal immigrants arriving under a scheme designed to deter human smuggling to Rwanda in a matter of weeks, a Downing Street official has said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on April 14 that people who enter the UK illegally may end up being relocated to the African country of Rwanda.
Johnson said the agreement is “uncapped” and Rwanda will have the “capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead,” including those who have arrived illegally since the start of the year.
He said he hopes the threat of relocation to Rwanda will help end “the most tragic of all forms of illegal migration,” namely “the barbaric trade in human misery conducted by the people smugglers” in the English Channel.
Andrew Griffith, the director of policy at No. 10 Downing Street, told BBC Newsnight that it is hoped the scheme will be operational in “weeks, or a small number of months,” as “it doesn’t require new legislation.”
But both Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel have acknowledged the plans could be challenged in the courts.
During a visit to the Rwandan capital of Kigali, Patel said the Home Office was prepared for legal challenges, as she accused lawyers of “fleecing the British taxpayer.”
There has also been criticisms of the potential costs of the scheme, which will include not just the £120 million ($157 million) for the initial deal with Rwanda, but also cash for each relocated illegal immigrant.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called the plans “unworkable” and “extortionate.”
Andrew Mitchell, a former Conservative minister, said the policy would prove “incredibly expensive” and it would be cheaper to put the illegal immigrants up at the luxury Ritz Hotel in London’s Mayfair for a year.
But Tom Pursglove, a minister at the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, said sending illegal immigrants to Rwanda will save Britain money in the “longer term.”
He said the aim was to allow the illegal immigrants to embark on “fully prosperous” lives in the central African country while simultaneously crushing the “cruel” business model of human traffickers.
“We are spending £5 million per day accommodating individuals who are crossing in hotels. That is not sustainable and is not acceptable and we have to get that under control.”
He said the Rwanda scheme will help the UK save money in the long term by getting illegal immigration in the English Channel under control.
