On Monday, the UK sent its first asylum seeker to Rwanda under a voluntary repatriation program. The voluntary program is separate from the mandatory deportation program that the UK plans to implement in the coming months.
Under the voluntary program, the government has said it will pay up to £3,000 (about €3,500) for each asylum seeker to relocate to Rwanda.
The current agreement is part of an existing government policy whereby asylum seekers are offered financial support to leave the UK and return to their home countries, but under this plan people will also receive the money if they agree to emigrate to Rwanda, reports the tabloid The Sun.
– This deal allows people with no immigration status in the UK to be relocated to a safe third country where they will be supported to rebuild their lives, a Sunak government spokesman commented earlier this week.
The agreement will allow people without immigration status in the UK to be relocated to a safe third country where they will receive support to rebuild their lives,” the spokesman said.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has commented on the voluntary plan that has now been launched, as well as the imminent forced repatriation.
– No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to Rwanda, he said at a press conference earlier this week.
Yes yes yes and one more yes to Rwanda for each and every immigrant Great Britain wants mass deportation of all immigrants.
The British people have had enough! Immigrants can all go back to there ancestral home or Rwanda No ifs or buts— Englishman of courage & decency (@JohnCavendish10) April 30, 2024
Tens of thousands of migrants affected
Tens of thousands of migrants, most without valid asylum claims, have arrived in the UK in small boats since 2018.
In response, the government has spent nearly two years overcoming legal and political opposition to its policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, some 6,400 kilometers away in East Africa. It hopes this will act as a deterrent.
Parliament finally passed the controversial legislation last week. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he expects the first flights to leave in 10 to 12 weeks.
A British government document released on Monday showed that the first asylum seekers to be deported from Britain to Rwanda would be from a group of 5,700 people. But the document also suggested that the Rwandan government would initially only be able to accommodate around 2,000 of them.
Under the forthcoming enforced return scheme, anyone who arrives illegally after January 1, 2022 could be deported to Rwanda. According to official UK figures, more than 50,000 people have arrived since then.
The Labour Party has said it will scrap the scheme if it wins power and instead work on a deal with the EU to return some arrivals to mainland Europe.
