(London) The first migrants likely to be deported by the United Kingdom to Rwanda have been arrested and detained, a new step in a highly criticized policy taken two days before high-risk elections for the ruling Conservatives .
Posted at 2:15 p.m.
Caroline TAIX
France Media Agency
“The first irregular migrants to be deported to Rwanda have been placed in detention following a series of operations carried out this week on a national scale,” wrote the Ministry of the Interior in a press release, without specify the number of people concerned nor their countries of origin.
More arrests “should be made in the coming weeks,” he adds.
With its press release, the ministry released photos and a video showing law enforcement officers arresting migrants.
Their broadcast like the announcement of the migrant arrests comes two days before local elections in England and Wales, in which the Conservatives risk suffering heavy losses.
“This action is a key part of the plan to ensure flights to Rwanda in the next nine to eleven weeks,” the ministry continued.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is “pleased that the Home Office has led these operations,” his spokesperson said, welcoming “an important element in the deployment of the plan to take off flights in nine to eleven weeks and ensure effective deterrence” to prevent Channel crossings on small boats.
The head of the conservative government promised to put an end to these crossings by illegal migrants. More than 7,500 have arrived since the start of the year, a historic record for the first four months of the year.
First voluntary departure
Parliament adopted a very controversial law last week allowing some of these migrants to be expelled to Rwanda.
Their asylum application will be examined in the East African country and they will not be able to return to the United Kingdom, whatever the outcome.
The government plans to begin evictions in early summer.
This policy “will make it clear that if you come here illegally, you cannot stay,” the Interior Ministry reiterated in its press release.
“Our teams […] are working at pace to quickly stop people who have no right to be here, so we can get the flights off the ground,” Home Secretary James Cleverly was quoted as saying in the statement.
Commercial flights have been booked, the ministry said.
The government indicated on Tuesday that it hoped to deport an already identified group of 5,700 people to Rwanda “by the end of the year”.
While the government has made no secret of the fact that it anticipates legal challenges against this text, a union of senior civil servants, the FDA, announced on Wednesday that it had filed an appeal.
The union argues that the new law exposes civil servants to breaching international law and therefore the administration code if, as the text provides, the British government decides to ignore a decision of the European Court of Human Rights Man.
“Civil servants should never find themselves in a position where they find themselves in conflict between the instructions of ministers and respect for the administration code,” denounced the union’s general secretary, Dave Penman.
“This is exactly what the government chose to do,” he continued, denouncing an “irresponsible” approach and a “political choice made not for the good of the country, but to avoid dissatisfying the factions in war” among the conservatives.
A first migrant was deported to Rwanda on Monday, according to British media, but as part of another program, based on volunteering. This migrant, originally from the African continent, who was offered 3,000 pounds agreed to leave for this East African country on a commercial flight after his asylum request was rejected.
