British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised to start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks, telling the upper house of Parliament that he will force new legislation through despite its opposition to the plan.
Sunak said the government had booked commercial charter planes and trained staff to take asylum seekers to Rwanda, a policy he hopes will boost his Conservative Party’s flagging fortunes before an election later this year.
After weeks of opposition in the House of Lords, which wants to introduce safeguards to the divisive legislation, Sunak said the government would force parliament to sit late into the night on Monday if necessary to get it passed.
“No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to Rwanda,” Sunak told a news conference.
Tens of thousands of asylum seekers – many fleeing wars and poverty in Africa, the Middle East and Asia – have reached Britain in recent years by crossing the English Channel in small boats on risky journeys organised by people-smuggling gangs.
The government plans to deport to Rwanda some of those who enter the United Kingdom irregularly as a deterrent to asylum seekers considering making the crossing.
Charities and rights groups say they would try to stop individual deportations and the trade union that represents border force staff is promising to argue the new legislation is unlawful “within days” of the first asylum seekers being informed they will be sent to Rwanda.
Care4Calais, a charity that supports asylum seekers, called the plan an unworkable and cruel “gimmick”.
