By Mehmet Solmaz
BIRMINGHAM, England (AA) — British Home Secretary James Cleverly reassured the lawmakers at the House of Commons on Monday that the government is determined to realize the plan of sending migrants to Rwanda.
“The Rwanda scheme is an incredibly important part of the basket of responses that we have. I will do everything to ensure that we drive down small boat arrivals. That is the promise that we have made to the British people and that is the commitment that I will deliver,” he said.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said the level of legal migration into the UK is “far too high” and has very profound impacts on access to public services, the productivity of the economy, and the ability of the UK to be a “socially cohesive and united country.”
The comments come two weeks after the UK Supreme Court ruled that the government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful.
In response, the government said it will agree on a new treaty with Rwanda and it will also introduce an emergency legislation, which will assert that Rwanda is safe.
Jenrick said the small boat crossings across the Channel remain “unacceptably high” and that the route countries migrants pass through to reach Britain are safe for them to make their legal claims.
He told the MPs that the fresh emergency Rwanda legislation will be brought forward “shortly” to ensure that “flights to Rwanda take off as a matter of urgency.”