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Copyright © 2024 CGTN. 京ICP备20000184号
Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466
Migrants cross the beach to try to board a smuggler's boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel, on the beach of Gravelines, near Dunkirk, northern France, April 26, 2024. /CFP
British authorities have started to detain migrants in preparation for them to be sent to Rwanda in the next nine to 11 weeks, the government said on Wednesday, laying the groundwork for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's immigration policy.
Parliament last month approved a law that paves the way for sending asylum seekers to Rwanda if they arrive in Britain without permission. Sunak wants the first flights to take off in July.
More than 7,500 migrants have arrived in England on small boats from France so far this year. The government says the new law will deter people from making the perilous trip across the Channel. Five people died trying to make the crossing last week.
"Our dedicated enforcement teams are working at pace to swiftly detain those who have no right to be here so we can get flights off the ground," British Home Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement on Wednesday.
One trade union representing civil servants who may be instructed to help enact the policy said it had launched a legal challenge because its members were potentially being asked to breach international law.
"Civil servants should never be left in a position where they are conflicted between the instructions of ministers and adhering to the Civil Service Code, yet that is exactly what the government has chosen to do," said Dave Penman, General Secretary of the FDA union.
Other unions and human rights charities opposed to the policy are expected to launch challenges to stop the flights from taking off after the UK Supreme Court declared the policy unlawful last year.
Care4Calais, a refugee charity, said the detentions had started on Monday.
Britain sent its first asylum seeker to Rwanda under a voluntary scheme, The Sun newspaper reported on Tuesday, a separate program to the deportation policy.
In April 2022, the UK reached a deal with Rwanda, under which illegal immigrants and asylum seekers would be sent to the east African country to have their claims processed there. If successful, they would be granted permanent residency in Rwanda rather than allowed to return to the UK.
(With input from agencies)