Hand-wringing bishops ignore the economic motives behind migration

sir – The Church of England deems the Rwanda deportation scheme an “immoral policy that shames Britain”.

When are these hand-wringing bishops going to get it? The migrants landing in boats on our overcrowded shores have already found safe haven in the EU before electing to try their luck in a dinghy to Britain.

If asylum, rather than economic gain, is the purpose of their journey, why not claim it in France, Greece, Italy or Spain: countries which many migrants have passed through on their way? Ben Giesbrecht

Llanelli, Carmarthenshire

sir – What was the point in planning to send a handful of asylum seekers to Rwanda on a Boeing 767 with capacity for more than 200 passengers (“Migrants who avoid tonight’s Rwanda flight will be on the next one, insists Liz Truss”, telegraph.co.uk, June 14)?

This profligate and illogical policy is highly unlikely to achieve its deterrent objective. However, the surrounding outrage might provide a useful distraction for Boris Johnson from his current woes.

Christopher Learmont-hughes Caldy, Wirral

sir – If the Rwanda scheme is morally repugnant and legally questionable as a deterrent, why not do more than deter? Why not take direct action against people smugglers?

Journalists have found them and refugees know how to contact them, so why can’t the police, or those with the power of arrest on the spot, find them?

There are legal (and cheaper) routes for individuals claiming asylum. Proof of genuine need is sometimes difficult and time-consuming, but for those fleeing harm, the moral and legal case for safety and security is overwhelming. Rev Canon Robin Morrison Laleham, Middlesex

sir – Rwanda – a Commonwealth member since 2009 – is an exemplar for post-colonial sub-saharan countries in Africa. I have known it intimately since my days as The Sunday Times’ chief foreign correspondent in the 1960s.

Rwanda’s president since 2004, Paul Kagame, seeks to make his country the “Singapore of Africa”. Its economy has grown by 7 per cent annually for the past two decades, during which child mortality has dropped by two-thirds. Women occupy 61 per cent of the seats in the National Assembly. It is uniquely uncorrupt. Rwanda gets the confident backing of the World Bank and Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

President Kagame, by blood a Tutsi, governs Rwanda without regard to its historic blight of racial difference. He has won the allegiance of all Rwandan citizens by advancement of his people’s prosperity and assured peace.

Most of the legal challenges to the Home Secretary’s initiative that I have seen stem from wilful ignorance of Rwanda’s achievement and standing, and its significance on the African and Commonwealth scene.

Tom Stacey London W8