British Prime Minister assures he will not be “intimidated or embarrassed” by those who defend illegal immigrants
A debate over the morality and legality of the deportation of immigrants to Rwanda shocked British society on Tuesday as a Boeing plane owned by Spanish company Privilege Style waited on the tarmac of a military airport in southwest England. Up to seven passengers would travel on the first flight last night, which according to Secretary of State Liz Truss was “a matter of principle”.
The government’s aim is to ruin the trafficking of human traffickers who prevent the embarkation on the French coast of men, women and children – especially from countries in the Middle East (Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan…) – en route to the beaches of the south east coast of England. About a hundred were rescued in the morning and landed by British patrols at Dover.
From January to March of this year, 141 full boats reached the English coast. In 2021 there were a total of 1,034. Last week 5 boats with 150 migrants. The previous ones, 20 and 658. The Ministry of Defense figures, which have been intercepting them on the coast since April, show no set pattern, but they do indicate that people smugglers have increased passenger numbers.
The British blame the British and French governments, the lack of control over the borders of the European Union or the disorder of the world for the continuity of the problem that has caused the fields that have grown around Calais over the past decade. Security was tightened and higher and stronger fences were installed to prevent migrants from sneaking into trains or trucks through the Channel Tunnel.
The former Prime Minister, Theresa May, promoted a “hostile environment” towards immigration, which was sealed by ‘Brexit’. Johnson entrusted the Interior Ministry to Priti Patel, who has been conducting tense and unsuccessful negotiations with her French colleagues to neutralize the drug gangs. And it has not persuaded refugees to apply for asylum in the UK from the European countries where they arrive.
In April, he went a step further. It has signed an Immigration and Economic Development Association with the government of Kigali, for which London will pay the costs of shelter, food and aid, and five years of training for the integration in Rwanda of those deported from the UK. The initial investment is approximately 140 million euros.
The plan is to send those who have not applied for asylum before boarding the boats and have their possible asylum in the African country analyzed. They can be deported to their home territory or to another host country if they do not meet local requirements. Israel has already pursued a similar policy with Rwanda and Australia with the island of Nauru. Both were abandoned.
Prince Charles, who will be in Kigali next week to chair a Commonwealth meeting on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II, is said to have described the government’s policy in a private conversation as “appalling”. The 26 bishops of the Church of England who sit in the House of Lords wrote a letter to The Times saying the government’s plan “embarrasses the nation”.
The United Nations Refugee Agency has condemned London’s policies as “incompatible in letter and spirit with the 1951 Refugee Convention”. He does not believe that the agreement with Rwanda is “an appropriate transfer system”. It considers it unacceptable that “an attempt is made to evade responsibility for identifying and fulfilling the need for international protection” of refugees.
Charitable organizations have taken their complaint to court, but the three bodies that have heard the case consider the government’s argument about the “public interest” of its plan to be valid. There will be a more extensive judicial review in July. Specialist lawyers have removed their clients from the original list of 130 passengers, invoking the protection of family life in the European Convention on Human Rights.
Johnson is considering the possibility of leaving the Convention, according to ‘The Times’. The immigrants’ lawyers are said to be “accomplices” to the smuggling gangs, according to the prime minister. He stressed that those who defend illegal routes will not be “intimidated or shamed”. His battles with the EU and illegal immigration may strengthen cohesion with a significant part of his electorate.
The annual costs of the asylum policy amount to more than 1,740 million euros per year. The money required per person for processing the asylum application is approximately 14,000 euros. More or less what will be paid for each deportee to Rwanda. The plan has an initial term of five years. One measure of the results is the impact on migrant smuggling in the canal.
Source: La Verdad
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