The UK Home Office has lost contact with thousands of people who could be moved to Rwanda. He is currently in contact with only 38 percent of those he plans to deport. The information was brought by The Guardian server.
Of the more than 5,000 people expected to be among the first to be deported, only 2,145 are currently reporting to authorities. Health Minister Victoria Atkins said law enforcement would be involved in the search for the others. “The Ministry and the police are used to it,” she commented on the loss of contacts. “The authorities have different means of finding people. They will be found and they will be deported,” Atkins added.
According to Shadow Migration Secretary Stephen Kinnock, the statistics reveal “a complete lack of Conservative control over the asylum system and chaos in Rwandan politics”. “Labour has a plan to reverse the Tory collapse on deportation and to break up the criminal gangs responsible for smuggling,” he said.
“Plan Rwanda”, which British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says is due to begin in July, has previously been condemned by human rights activists. Moreover, deportations can be delayed after MPs start raising their objections.
More about the Rwanda model:
- The effort to deport refugees to Rwanda in Africa has been a long-standing British policy. The cabinet of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson came up with the proposal in an attempt to reduce the number of migrants arriving in the country. His successors Liz Trussová and Rishi Sunak later continued to promote it.
- Britain finally struck a deal with Rwanda in April 2022, under which the African country is to take in refugees who arrive in Britain illegally in exchange for tens of millions of pounds. However, due to legal disputes, not a single deportation flight has yet flown to Rwanda.
- From the beginning, the British government’s intention to send migrants to Rwanda was harshly criticized by a number of human rights organizations and opposition politicians.
- Britain’s High Court, along with the Court of Appeal, ruled that sending asylum seekers to the African country was illegal because Rwanda could not be considered a safe country.
