Promising to make good on Brexit promises to control Britain’s borders, Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday announced a crackdown on smuggling routes across the English Channel in which most migrants will be quickly screened and detained, and those who do not meet strict asylum criteria will be flown 4,000 miles to Rwanda for processing there.
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Britain will deploy the Royal Navy to patrol the channel and intercept vessels setting off from the French coast, Johnson said. Smugglers convicted of piloting the crafts could face life in prison.
Under the plan, which requires the approval of Parliament, most migrants who cross the channel illegally will be deemed inadmissible for claiming asylum in Britain, because their journeys will have taken them through safe countries where they could have made an asylum application.
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Johnson suggested that “tens of thousands” of such migrants could be sent to Rwanda, where they would either apply for asylum or refugee status — or be returned to their home countries.
He called the African nation “one of the safest countries in the world, globally recognized for its record of welcoming and integrating migrants.”
Migration row intensifies between U.K. and France after English Channel deaths
British officials said the policy will be to send all inadmissible adults — men and women — to Rwanda. They said they would not send children or unaccompanied minors, nor would they break up families with children. Those deemed to have viable asylum claims may remain in Britain to pursue their cases.
“It’s a striking fact that around 7 out of 10 of those arriving in small boats last year were men under 40, paying people smugglers to queue-jump and taking up our capacity to help genuine women and child refugees,” Johnson said.
“This is particularly perverse as those attempting crossings are not directly fleeing imminent peril as is the intended purpose of our asylum system,” he said. “They have passed through manifestly safe countries, including many in Europe, where they could — and should — have claimed asylum.”
British Home Secretary Priti Patel traveled to Rwanda on Thursday to sign a deal, which includes $160 million in aid to the country.
The plan, part of a new Nationality and Borders Bill, must first pass Parliament, where Johnson’s Conservative Party holds a large majority.
The opposition Labour Party called the proposal “unworkable, unethical and extortionate.” Advocacy groups warned that the measures could violate human rights.
Johnson conceded that there would probably be legal challenges seeking to block the plan’s implementation. He denied that the measures were “draconian or lacking in compassion.”
Johnson said it was far worse to let people drown in the channel. He denounced human traffickers for their role.
“These vile people-smugglers are abusing the vulnerable and turning the channel into a watery graveyard, with men, women and children drowning in unseaworthy boats and suffocating in refrigerated lorries,” he said.
Johnson predicted that the plan would soon be adopted as “an international model.”
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Britain will deploy the Royal Navy to patrol the channel and intercept vessels setting off from the French coast, Johnson said. Smugglers convicted of piloting the crafts could face life in prison.
Under the plan, which requires the approval of Parliament, most migrants who cross the channel illegally will be deemed inadmissible for claiming asylum in Britain, because their journeys will have taken them through safe countries where they could have made an asylum application.
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Johnson suggested that “tens of thousands” of such migrants could be sent to Rwanda, where they would either apply for asylum or refugee status — or be returned to their home countries.
He called the African nation “one of the safest countries in the world, globally recognized for its record of welcoming and integrating migrants.”
Migration row intensifies between U.K. and France after English Channel deaths
British officials said the policy will be to send all inadmissible adults — men and women — to Rwanda. They said they would not send children or unaccompanied minors, nor would they break up families with children. Those deemed to have viable asylum claims may remain in Britain to pursue their cases.
“It’s a striking fact that around 7 out of 10 of those arriving in small boats last year were men under 40, paying people smugglers to queue-jump and taking up our capacity to help genuine women and child refugees,” Johnson said.
“This is particularly perverse as those attempting crossings are not directly fleeing imminent peril as is the intended purpose of our asylum system,” he said. “They have passed through manifestly safe countries, including many in Europe, where they could — and should — have claimed asylum.”
British Home Secretary Priti Patel traveled to Rwanda on Thursday to sign a deal, which includes $160 million in aid to the country.
The plan, part of a new Nationality and Borders Bill, must first pass Parliament, where Johnson’s Conservative Party holds a large majority.
The opposition Labour Party called the proposal “unworkable, unethical and extortionate.” Advocacy groups warned that the measures could violate human rights.
Johnson conceded that there would probably be legal challenges seeking to block the plan’s implementation. He denied that the measures were “draconian or lacking in compassion.”
Johnson said it was far worse to let people drown in the channel. He denounced human traffickers for their role.
“These vile people-smugglers are abusing the vulnerable and turning the channel into a watery graveyard, with men, women and children drowning in unseaworthy boats and suffocating in refrigerated lorries,” he said.
Johnson predicted that the plan would soon be adopted as “an international model.”
