New law could bolster Home Office on Rwanda policy

THE Government’s Rwanda policy is to be enshrined in a new law that could help counter legal challenges to the removal of migrants who enter the UK illegally.

The immigration bill is expected to place a legal duty on the Home Secretary to remove those migrants who arrive illegally or enter the UK indirectly through a safe third country without permission.

It means migrants arriving in small boats across the Channel or hidden in lorries will be subject to detention and automatic deportation back to their home state or to a third country, like Rwanda, to claim asylum there.

The legal duty will enshrine in primary legislation the Government’s controversial policy of sending migrants on a one-way ticket to Rwanda, or other third countries, to claim asylum there.

Flights to Rwanda have been on hold since last summer after a series of court challenges that the policy is unlawful, breaches the Refugee Convention and puts the safety of asylum seekers at risk.

A high court ruling in December that the policy is lawful has been referred to the court of appeal after individual asylum seekers and charities sought to challenge it.

The policy was announced nearly a year ago by Boris Johnson and Priti Patel, the then home secretary, without any changes to the law. Ministers believe that placing a statutory duty on Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, will strengthen the legal status of the plans and bolster the position of the Home Office in organising removals to Rwanda.

The planned move, which is currently being considered by Downing Street after being put forward by ministers, is part of Rishi Sunak’s proposed new laws that will “make unambiguously clear that if you enter the UK illegally you should not be able to remain here”.

“Instead, you will be detained and swiftly returned either to your home country or to a safe country where your claim for asylum will be considered,” he told MPS when he announced the plans last month.

It echoes a similar strategy by Labour’s Tony Blair when he faced a similar crisis over a surge in illegal immigration and sought to toughen the Government’s approach.

His Government’s 2007 immigration act placed a duty on the Home Secretary to deport any foreign criminals who had served more than a year in jail, following successive legal challenges by human rights lawyers.