‘People will find even more dangerous ways to come’
Holly Bancroft speaks to a teenager who crossed the Channel in a dinghy and whose father was almost deported to Rwanda
The son of an asylum seeker who was on the government’s failed Rwanda flight last summer has said the policy will not stop people from crossing the Channel.
Ali*, whose father was due to be deported on the first flight and was one of the claimants in the December legal challenge, said that the government was not interested in understanding why
people like his father made the perilous journey across the Channel.
“This law is not reasonable,” he said. “It can’t stop people from crossing the Channel, but they will try more dangerous ways which will be worse.”
The plan to deport migrants to Rwanda was ruled lawful in December but judges said that the government had not “properly considered” the cases of eight asylum seekers who were put on the flight to Kigali.
Asylum seekers and a charity were yesterday granted permission to appeal the High Court’s finding. “I think it’s really unfair to judge and decide for people who have been surviving from so many dangers. The government didn’t even ask and check why they are here and crossed the Channel,” he added.
Ali, 19, and his father, 46, are both Iranian Christians who fled their home country due to religious persecution. They travelled through Turkey before eventually arriving in France, where the pair decided to separate to allow Ali to try to get to the UK first on a small boat.
Both successfully made the journey but Ali’s father was detained for three months on arrival in spring 2022. Then on the morning of 14 June, Ali’s father was put in a car and driven to a plane destined for Rwanda, which was waiting at Boscombe Down military base in Wiltshire.
Speaking about the ordeal, Ali said: “I woke up in the morning and I was still on the phone after 16 hours calling people just to ask for help. After 16 hours, I don’t know how but they cancelled the flight at 9pm at the last minute. My father was on the plane. He said that he had a seat and three guards were around him. They were writing about whatever they were doing. If they moved, they write it. If you were eating, they were writing it.
“My father said that [when they were told they were being sent to Rwanda] everyone was passing out, from the stress and because it was really scary for them.”
The flight was abandoned after a dramatic 11th-hour ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. Testimonies collated by The Independent at the time revealed how asylum seekers were strapped into restraining harnesses and subject to physical force by security staff.
Following the December ruling, Ali’s father has received a temporary reprieve after Lord Justice Lewis quashed the decisions to remove eight asylum seekers who launched legal challenges against the plan. He said that the cases must be reconsidered by the home secretary.
Ali is hopeful that the government will consider alternatives to the Rwanda policy. He said: “They can take a look and change so many things about the asylum system instead. Therefore, I hope everything will be better for asylum seekers, because we all had enough bad days. Hope to see everyone safe and happy.”
Clare Moseley, founder of refugee charity Care4Calais that is supporting Ali, said: “The government’s brutal Rwanda policy has already inflicted so much pain and harm on those threatened by it and their families.
“When the flight was attempted in June, we saw harrowing suicide attempts, self-harm and over 20 people on hunger strike. It is sickening to contemplate this horror happening once more.”
Care4Calais is one of the charities challenging the Rwanda ruling in the High Court. Home secretary Suella Braverman has
said she is committed to making the policy work.
Reacting to December’s judgment, she said: “We have always maintained that this policy is lawful and today the court has upheld this. I am committed to making this partnership work my focus remains on moving ahead with the policy as soon as possible and we stand ready to defend against any further legal challenge.”
*Ali’s name has been changed to protect his identity.
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