Rwanda received the first rejected asylum applicant.
Britain has sent the first failed asylum seeker to Rwanda as part of a voluntary scheme drawn up by the government to help clear the backlog of migrants stuck in Britain.
The unnamed migrant was flown from the UK to Rwanda on Monday night, where he will be able to start a new life under a deal negotiated earlier this year.
The deal, which is separate from the forced deportation system, is aimed at removing migrants whose applications have been rejected and cannot stay in the UK but cannot return to their own country.
In exchange for the £3,000 support normally offered to repatriated migrants and the prospect of citizenship in Rwanda, the government airlifted him to the central African nation, which is considered a safe third country by the government.
This system is not designed to discourage crossing the border but instead mirrors the existing system of voluntary returns, which allows failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals, and other migrants without the right to remain in the UK to return to their home country.
Under these voluntary return schemes, they can receive up to £3,000 in financial assistance to return to their ‘country of origin’.
The system is “legal because resettlement is voluntary”
Monday’s deportation to Rwanda is the first of its kind as it is the first time a migrant has been paid to leave the UK without returning to their country of origin.
Ministers believe the scheme is legal as resettlement would be voluntary.
After his offer to stay in Britain at the end of 2023 was turned down, the man – originally from Africa – has volunteered to transition to a new life in the central African nation.
According to a document published on Monday, more than 5,700 migrants have been identified for removal, but only 2,145 of them continue to report to the Interior Ministry and can be detained.
The Home Office insists the remaining 3,557 are essential absconders but are not subject to the same reporting restrictions, meaning they are likely to be more difficult to find for detention purposes.
Missing migrants ‘end up in Ireland’
Kevin Saunders, who was the Border Force’s chief immigration officer from 2001 to 2016, warned that the 3,500 were likely to disappear and likely end up in Ireland.
He said the migrants were initially identified for deportation to Rwanda upon arrival in 2022 and 2023 but had so far avoided deportation.
“Now that we have the new Rwandan law on the table, they’re afraid they’re going to be removed, so they’ve done the disappearing act,” Saunders said.
Asked on BBC Radio 4 whether the Home Office was wrong to say there was no shortage, he said: “I wouldn’t want to say the Home Office is telling pigs. Let’s just say they can’t find them temporarily.
“These are people they’ve lost touch with. It won’t appear, certainly not in the UK. It is likely to appear in Ireland. They know they are in a frame to be removed. They don’t want to be removed, so they disappear.”
Saunders said he still believed the Rwandan deportation scheme would work and act as a deterrent, but said he would prefer all migrants who enter the UK illegally across the Channel to be detained, despite the huge costs.
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