British plan refuses refugees
Legislation creates duty to remove boat asylum-seekers
LONDON — The British government unveiled legislation Tuesday that would give the Home Office a “duty” to remove nearly all asylum-seekers who arrive on small boats across the English Channel, part of a package of measures denounced by international rights organizations and refugee advocacy groups.
The Conservative government in Britain has increasingly taken aim at migrants arriving on its shores, the majority of whom are asylum-seekers fleeing war and persecution. A recent plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda has been challenged in court.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman, whose government office is responsible for the planned policy changes and who announced the measures in Parliament, said the proposed legislation would make good on an earlier promise by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to restrict the boat crossings.
“It will allow us to stop the boats that are bringing tens of thousands to our shores in flagrant breach of both our laws and the will of the British people,” Braverman said, insisting that the bill was compatible with international law, despite the criticism.
“They will not stop coming here until the world knows that if you enter Britain illegally, you will be detained and swiftly removed, back to your country if it is safe or to a safe third country, like Rwanda,” Braverman said.
The plans unveiled Tuesday and provisionally called the Illegal Migration Bill were heavily criticized by rights groups, charities and a number of British lawmakers. The bill’s opponents claim that the government’s policies are more about driving political support than addressing the problem.
In Parliament, Yvette Cooper, a Labour lawmaker and the shadow Home secretary, called the current asylum system and the government’s proposal “deeply damaging chaos.”
“There is no point in ministers trying to blame anyone else for it. They have been in power for 13 years, the asylum system is broken, and they have broken it,” she said of the Conservative government.
The Refugee Council, a British charity, found in an analysis published late last year that at least two-thirds of the people who crossed the English Channel in small boats last year would eventually be granted asylum status.
The charity added that, based on its analysis, the proposed legislation would prevent more than 45,000 people over the next year from having their claims processed.
Enver Solomon, chief officer of the Refugee Council, said in a statement that the legislation would shatter long-standing British commitments under the United Nations Refugee Convention to give people a fair hearing.
“It’s unworkable, costly and won’t stop the boats,” he said.
His charity and others are backing a plan that would create safe routes for refugees to enter Britain, such as a refugee visa, as well as a timely asylum process and agreements with European partners to share responsibility for refugees seeking safety in the region.
There are currently no legal routes for asylum-seekers fleeing war and persecution to apply for refugee status elsewhere in the world and obtain a visa to enter Britain. Many see the small boat crossings and other irregular — and often dangerous — voyages as their only option for entering the country.
Using the Home Office’s own prediction that about 65,000 people would make such crossings in 2023, the Refugee Council estimated that the government would have to spend about $1.4 billion to detain asylum-seekers who arrive by irregular routes.
The new legislation is the latest in a series of hard-line, contentious policies put forth by the Conservative government under successive prime ministers, but people have continued to make the sometimes deadly journey, frequently setting off from the French coastline in unseaworthy vessels.
Late last year, an agreement aimed at halting the small boats in the English Channel called for Britain to pay France about $74.5 million, over 2022 and 2023. In turn, France agreed to increase security patrols on its northern beaches by 40%.
Sunak announced plans in December to tackle Britain’s major backlog in claims and to speed up the return of most asylum-seekers from Albania after an uptick in arrivals from that country last year.
The plan to fly asylum-seekers to Rwanda was also promoted by the Conservative government as a way to deter migrants from trying to cross the English Channel in small boats. But the numbers have continued to rise, and the proposal has drawn international condemnation and legal challenges.
In December, the High Court in London ruled that the measure was legal but qualified the decision by saying that every case needed to be considered individually. So far, no asylum-seekers have been sent to Rwanda.
Rwanda’s own human rights record has been criticized, and rights groups have warned that sending asylum-seekers to the country could violate international law and would not deter those risking the perilous journey to Britain.
“It will allow us to stop the boats that are bringing tens of thousands to our shores in flagrant breach of both our laws and the will of the British people” – Home Secretary Suella Braverman