According to UK correspondent Lia van Bekhoven, it is particularly controversial because minors and parents with children can also be deported to countries such as Rwanda. “They’re especially hesitant about this,” she says. “So even if there is resistance on humanitarian grounds, even within our own Conservative Party, I think the law is more likely to pass.”
The new law prohibits any new illegal migration. This means that people entering the country via boats or trucks will not be granted or even be able to apply for asylum. Furthermore, they are not entitled to protection, legal and social assistance, and will be jailed to be deported after 28 days to a country with which the United Kingdom hopes to conclude an extradition contract.
Legal migration?
Van Bekhoven points out that most migrants in the UK are illegal, because it is very difficult for migrants to enter the country legally. “The government is shocked by the tens of thousands of migrants who keep trying to make the crossing, which is why they want to end it now.”
But where the Conservatives broadly agree on the law, the rest of the UK is divided. According to Van Bekhoven, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has a lot to gain from this law. For example, the main question is whether the law will eventually be implemented. “Illegal according to the Court of Human Rights and the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees,” he says, all because the UK bans the reception of refugees.
Execution seems impossible
Opponents of the law believe that Sunak simply cannot implement the law because human rights organizations can continue to sue. For example, the British have already donated millions to Rwanda to accommodate asylum seekers who have exhausted all legal remedies. “But no one has arrived in Kigali yet,” concludes van Bekhoven. “Because the courts are constantly blocking it. He suspects that the same is about to happen with regard to the law ».
However, Sunak has presented the law to parliament and Van Bekhoven knows that everything has a political reason. “That’s the conjecture. Illegal migration is a major concern for Britons,’ he concludes. With Brexit, the British were promised that they would have control over their borders, but that is not the case. And with this campaign – called Stop the Boats – Prime Minister Sunak hopes to convince the British that he takes their concerns seriously.’