First failed asylum seeker He has been deported to Rwanda after agreeing to leave Britain voluntarily.
unnamed person of african descent flew to Kigali on a commercial flight After being paid almost £3,000.
They were flown to Rwanda on Monday as part of an additional scheme for people who have gone through the asylum process and had their claims rejected.
This is different from the policy of forced deportation of illegal immigrants.
Flights for that scheme, the government’s flagship immigration policy, are scheduled to begin in the summer, after the Rwanda Security Bill was approved by both houses of parliament earlier this month.
Ministers said Monday’s flight, first reported SunThis was the first time that the government had transferred a failed person. asylum seeker To a third country and claim this is proof that the Rwandan plan will work.
However, a voluntary scheme does not face any legal challenges, which has delayed Rishi Sunak’s efforts to forcibly deport people from Britain.
In early March, the government unveiled plans for a voluntary transfer scheme under which individuals were deported to Kigali.
This includes migrants whose asylum claims have been rejected and those who have been paid thousands of pounds for choosing to go to Rwanda.
The scheme is for individuals who do not have an outstanding asylum claim and are in a position to rapidly relocate to Kigali.
Labor accused ministers of “resorting to paying people” to go to Rwanda even though they realized their deportation plan “has no chance of succeeding.”
The Rwanda Security Bill became law last week after months of wrangling between the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
The law unilaterally declared Rwanda a safe country after concerns were raised about its human rights record, ignoring rulings by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
The Prime Minister this week insisted that flights taking asylum seekers to Rwanda will take off in July And the Home Office confirmed it would begin detaining asylum seekers within weeks, sparking protests at the locations where the raids were reportedly to take place.
On Monday night it emerged that the Home Office had lost contact with thousands of asylum seekers who were scheduled for deportation.
Only 2,143 of the 5,700 people identified for expulsion in the East African nation “continue to report to the Home Office and may be detained”, according to a government document.
Health Secretary Mo on Tuesday Victoria Atkins He told Sky News that the Home Office “has become accustomed to it” and that law enforcement agencies have “a number of measures” in place to find and remove people who are not reporting as required.
“We want the message to go out loud and clear that if someone doesn’t report as they should, they should not think they can get away with it,” he said. They will be found.”
The figures come from an impact assessment of the government’s migration and economic development partnership with Rwanda, under which Britain has agreed to pay Kigali to take asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats.
The document also acknowledged that deportations could be further delayed due to last-minute representations by MPs to suspend deportations.
News of the first flight comes ahead of a testing set of local and mayoral elections for Mister in England and Wales, in which the Conservatives are likely to suffer heavy losses.
The Prime Minister has made “stopping the boats” one of his five promises to the public, with the removal of asylum seekers seen as a signal to voters that the government’s broader migration agenda can be put to work.
A government spokesperson said: “We are now able to send asylum seekers to Rwanda under our migration and economic development partnership.” Rebuild their lives.