Lawyers prepare for legal battles on behalf of individual asylum seekers challenging removal to east Africa

Lawyers prepare for legal battles on behalf of individual asylum seekers challenging removal to east Africa

Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation bill will become law after peers eventually backed down on amending it, opening the way for legal battles over the potential removal of dozens of people seeking asylum.

After a marathon battle of “ping pong” over the key legislation between the Commons and the Lords, the bill finally passed when opposition and crossbench peers gave way on Monday night.

The bill is expected to be granted royal assent on Tuesday. Home Office sources said they have already identified a group of asylum seekers with weak legal claims to remain in the UK who will be part of the first tranche to be sent to east Africa in July.

Sunak has put the bill, which would deport asylum seekers who arrive in the UK by irregular means to Kigali, at the centre of his attempts to stop small boats crossing the Channel.

  • Skua@kbin.social
    5·
    7 months ago

    It wasn’t actually originally Sunak’s idea, this one was Johnson and Priti Patel. So probably not. Or at least, that wasn’t the original motivation, I would not be surprised in the slightest to hear that they’re moving to exploit it. Reporting in 2022 had said that other places had either been rejected for being unsuitable or had refused to agree to the deal, so it seems like Rwanda was basically just the one place that said yes. Being far from Britain, landlocked, and poor enough relative to Britain to be cheap to persuade (you know, if your idea of value for money is burning it to be a dickhead to refugees) makes it ideal as far as the creators of this policy see it

    • SteefLem@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      7 months ago

      Its a weird deal. Ppl flee for war or whatever so lets send them to one of the most unstable countries in africa. So i just wonder, there has got to be more behind this. Like some of his “deals”

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        7 months ago

        Yeah, people are being paid for sure. Plus the Tory bastards are openly saying that they’re doing it to discourage people from coming to the UK.

        That of course implies that Rwanda is a sufficiently awful place that the risk isn’t worth the potential of getting to live in the UK. That’s pretty damn insulting to Rwanda and cruel towards migrants if true…