Migrant deportation plan: UK minister in Rwanda

Britain’s Home Secretary arrived in Rwanda for a visit aimed at reinforcing the U.K. government’s commitment to a controversial plan to deport some asylum-seekers to the African country.

Ahead of her visit, Suella Braverman said the migration policy “will act as a powerful deterrent against dangerous and illegal journeys.”

Britain’s Conservative government wants to stop migrants from reaching the U.K. on risky journeys across the English Channel, and a deportation agreement signed with Rwanda last year was part of measures intended to deter the arrivals. More than 45,000 people arrived in Britain by boat in 2022, compared with 8,500 in 2020.

Under the plans, some migrants who arrive in the U.K. in small boats would be flown to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed. Those granted asylum would stay in the African country rather than return to Britain.

But the 140 million-pound ($170 million) plan has been mired in legal challenges, and no one has yet been sent to Rwanda. The U.K. was forced to cancel the first deportation flight at the last minute in June after the European Court of Human Rights ruled the plan carried “a real risk of irreversible harm.”

Human rights groups cite Rwanda’s poor human rights record, and argue it is inhumane to send people more than 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) to a country they don’t want to live in.