Boris Johnson’s “desperate and brutal” policy of deterring asylum seekers was in turmoil last night after a handful of migrants on a first deportation flight to Rwanda won a legal last-minute reprieve.
The tax-funded flight, worth £ 500,000, was suspended minutes before it took off following the intervention of the European Court of Human Rights.
This happened despite the fact that the ministers had previously insisted that the flight would continue, no matter how few were on board.
Understandably, the appeals were upheld by an ECtHR judge outside working hours while the migrants were on their way from a detention center near Heathrow to Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, from where a charter plane was already waiting to take them to Rwanda.
As there was no route for the Interior Ministry to appeal the decision, the flight was abandoned shortly before 10 p.m.
Interior Minister Priti Patel insisted the plan would continue, saying: “Many of those removed from this flight will be placed on the next one. Our legal team is reviewing every decision made on this flight and preparations for the next flight begin now.
“We will not hesitate to do the right thing and carry out our plans.
Earlier, Interior Minister Priti Patel’s lawyers were forced to confirm in court that Britain would return people from Rwanda if the policy was declared illegal in a judicial review next month.
Earlier, ministers said the policy would prevent migrants from taking dangerous boat trips through one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, and flights to Rwanda were announced in Calais and other boarding destinations. And Boris Johnson boasted that a policy called “immoral” by the bishops of the Church of England could lead to the sending of tens of thousands to the African country.
The Refugee Council said the government’s claims of deterrence had “already been refuted” by figures continuing to travel across the English Channel.
“We have always known that these measures will do little to stop desperate people from making dangerous trips to the UK because they are doing absolutely nothing to address the reasons people are coming,” said Enver. Solomon.
Zoe Gardner, head of the Joint Immigrant Welfare Council (JCWI), told The Independent that there was no evidence that “desperate and brutal” flights to Rwanda would stop the flow of boats.
“This will not make the refugees disappear,” she said. “We have told this government over and over again what would prevent dangerous crossings and save lives – and these are safe routes for people seeking refuge here.”
About 250 people are estimated to have arrived in the UK on Tuesday as London courts rejected requests from four migrants – three Iranians and one from Vietnam – to suspend their deportation.
But a European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled at 5 p.m. that an Iraqi man in his 50s was removed from the deportation list just hours before boarding a 200-seat Boeing 767 in Boscombe Down.
The ECtHR said medical examinations of the man, who left Iraq in April and crossed the English Channel in a small boat before seeking asylum on May 17, showed signs of possible torture. His decision took into account the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ assessment that asylum seekers do not have access to “fair and effective refugee status determination procedures” in Rwanda and that there is no legally enforceable mechanism to ensure their return to the United Kingdom. .
Similar orders were later issued for the remaining deportees until no one was left behind.
Mr Johnson hinted that he might be ready to withdraw the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights to ensure the scheme continues to operate.
Asked if the controversial move was on the table, he replied: “Will we need to change some laws to help us as we move forward? That may be the case, and all of these options are constantly being reviewed. “
The prime minister also sparked anger in the bar, accusing deportation fighters of “supporting the work of criminal gangs” of human traffickers.
In a joint statement, the Bar Council and the Bar Association responded: “It is misleading and dangerous for the Prime Minister to assume that lawyers who address such legal challenges are doing something different from their work and complying with the law.
“Anyone who is at risk of a life-changing order has the right to challenge its legality with the help of a lawyer who has an obligation to advise his client on his rights.”
And Mr Johnson has been criticized for an expected bill of more than £ 80,000 per person for the charter flight, with former International Development Minister Andrew Mitchell telling The Independent: “It would be cheaper to put them at the Ritz for a year and a half – board with a bottle of champagne every lunch. “
As Anglican bishops signed a joint letter condemning the scheme, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: “The deportation of asylum seekers should shame us as a nation.
And Yvette Cooper, the shadow interior minister, said the deportation program was “unenforceable, unethical, extortionately expensive, and risks exacerbating smuggling and trafficking.”
“The government is ultimately targeting victims of torture instead of trafficking gangs,” Ms. Cooper said.
The number of weekly arrivals established by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) has fallen from 1,071 registered at the time the policy was announced on April 14, to between 190 and 762 in the coming weeks.
According to the latest official figures, 138 arrived on Monday, while BBC reporters at the scene estimated that about 250 had been helped ashore on Tuesday.
Fluctuating figures are heavily influenced by factors such as weather and sea conditions, and there are no signs of a return to the levels observed recently in 2019, when less than 2,000 passed during the year.
Chief Border and Immigration Inspector David Neal told lawmakers last week that he saw no signs of a reduction in the number of newcomers to the scheme, while Interior Ministry senior government official Matthew Rycroft told Ms. Patel in a letter in April. that “evidence of a deterrent effect is very uncertain.”
Up to 130 people were initially told they could be on their first flight to Rwanda. Interior Ministry sources said work was under way to overcome legal barriers to removal, and many of those who avoided today’s flight could be expected to be on the next one, expected to leave in weeks.
Many of those involved are believed to have been detained, and if the policy survives a judicial review, more planes are expected to be hired to take them to Rwanda when and when their cases are processed.
At a news conference in Kigali, Rwandan government spokesman Yolanda Makolo said he expected to receive “thousands” of deportees throughout the life of the partnership signed with Britain.
Controversial over the taxpayer’s spending on the exercise, a UK government source said the asylum system bill currently stands at £ 1.5 billion a year, with £ 5 million spent each week to accommodate migrants.
“Savings for taxpayers will come,” the source said. “When people die and uncertain borders, what price do people think is too high to stop these crossings?”
Claire Mosley, founder of the charity Care4Calais, which is conducting a judicial review with Detention Action and the Union of Public and Commercial Services (PCS), described the removal as “absolutely shocking and appalling” and said the planned series of flights would be “expensive and costly”. ineffective ”.
“You have to question motivation,” Ms. Mosley said. “It’s not because they want to stop human traffickers and save lives, because if they want to do that, they will open safer roads for refugees.
And Graham McGregor of Detention Action said it was “absolutely absurd to send a handful of people to Rwanda in an attempt to scare people.”
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