This week starting 9th of October, the U.K. Supreme Court will consider whether it is legal to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, posing it one of the biggest challenges to the British government’s controversial policy to stop the influx of migrants.
The policy seeks to discourage the criminal groups who transport migrants via one of the busiest waterways by making Britain seem an undesirable location due to the prospect of earning a one-way ticket to Rwanda.
The policy gained pace under Rishi Sunak, the current Prime Minister of UK, after being first proposed by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson in April 2022. In July, it became a law after being approved by Parliament in the spring last year.
The London Court of Appeal established in June that the plan to send a large number of migrants in excess of 4,000 miles (6,400 km) to East Africa was unlawful, stating that Rwanda did not qualify as a safe and secure third country, confronting a counterattack to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government and his commitment to “stop the boats.”
As of 2nd of October, it is projected that more than 25,000 migrants had entered the U.K. by boat, which is a decrease of about 25% from the 33,000 who had done so at the same time the previous year.
Many Britons supported Brexit because of concerns about immigration, which has restricted the number of Europeans who may live and work in the U.K. The exact mindset has been the driving force for one of the Conservatives’ policies of the Legislation that makes it illegal to cross the English Channel by boat in absence of a visa and states that violators would be deported back home or, if that considered risky, to Rwanda regardless of their nation of origin.
Written by: Divyani Newar
College name: NEF Law College
5th Semester, 3 Year LL.B.
An intern under Legal Vidhiya
