UK lawmakers want tougher Rwanda bill that ensures migrant deportations

By Mehmet Solmaz

BIRMINGHAM, England (AA) — A group of lawmakers from the ruling Conservatives have criticized the party leadership ahead of Wednesday’s controversial parliamentary vote which will allow illegal arrivals to be deported to Rwanda.

The intra-party rebellion, which is led by former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, claims the policy will not work in its current form as it gives the asylum seekers a right to appeal their deportation on certain circumstances.

"The test of whether it works is not can we get a few symbolic flights off in the months ahead, with a small number of illegal migrants on them," Jenrick told the Commons.

Instead, he said, it needed to create "a sustainable deterrent" to stop people crossing the Channel in small boats.

The initiative, which is backed by at least 60 Conservative parliamentarians, aims to restrict an individual's ability to block their removal to Rwanda and prevent international law being considered in legal challenges against the policy.

The UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR), which has repeatedly criticized the government’s Rwanda policy, has released a fresh analysis saying that the government’s bill is incompatible with international law.

The prime minister’s office responded swiftly, saying the bill is in line with the international law. “The UNHCR also have a partnership with Rwanda ensuring they can safely take in migrants, I think from Libya, including a number quite recently,” a spokesperson from the office said.

Speaking on behalf of the main opposition Labour Party, Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock, said his party opposes the bill in its entirety.

He said the party wants to stop the boats and “fix our broken asylum system” but will “never support any proposal that is unaffordable, unworkable or unlawful."

Kinnock claimed that the Rwandan authorities have only got the capacity to take 1% of the 30,000 people who have arrived since the Illegal Migration Act was passed.

The controversial plan that seeks to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda while their claims are being assessed was ruled unlawful by the UK’s highest court, as they found the East African country is not a safe place for asylum seekers to be housed.

The government then changed the bill, assuring that Rwanda is safe to house asylum seekers.