Ukrainian refugees could be caught in Rwanda exile policy

UKRAINIAN refugees who come to the UK via Ireland without authority could be removed to Rwanda, a senior Home Office official has indicated to MPS.

Any migrants who arrive illegally across the Channel, including Ukrainians or Afghan interpreters, could be sent to Rwanda to claim asylum, MPS on the Commons home affairs committee were told.

This came as Tom Pursglove, a Home Office minister, could not point to any calculations to show the Rwanda relocation policy would reduce the number of Channel migrants reaching the UK in small boats. A record 7,848 have so far crossed this year, treble last year’s rate.

Ireland has decided to lift all restrictions for refugees fleeing war, prompting claims it could create a backdoor to the UK, leaving the country vulnerable to potential criminal elements.

The common travel area means

Ukrainians who do not pass British security checks or are waiting for visas to arrive could reach the UK by entering Northern Ireland from the Irish Republic and taking a ferry to the UK.

Stuart Mcdonald, the SNP home affairs spokesman and a committee member, asked Dan Hobbs, the Home Office director of asylum, protection and enforcement, about Ukrainians entering Northern Ireland from Ireland. Mr Mcdonald asked: “Are they within the scope of this policy or are they not?”

Mr Hobbs replied that “depending on the individual circumstances they may not fall in the ‘inadmissibility’ criteria”.

Mr Mcdonald said: “You are leaving open the possibility that you can cross from Dublin to Belfast and conceivably end up in Rwanda.”

Earlier, Mr Hobbs had said the only nationality excluded from the Rwanda policy were Rwandans. Asked if the policy would include Afghan interpreters or Ukrainians crossing the Channel illegally, Mr Pursglove did not rule it out.

“Those who have arrived through dangerous and unnecessary journeys are in scope to be relocated to Rwanda, but... We will work on a case by case basis,” he said.

Mr Pursglove admitted the Rwanda policy would take time before it started to reduce crossings as many would already have paid the people smugglers.

Asked what modelling was used to give the “evidence base” for it deterring migrants, he said that “we will see this policy, as part of a wider package that we are introducing, really shift the dynamic”.