Current Events > Britain to begin deporting asylum-seekers to Rwanda.

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks-sunak-pledges-make-migrant-deportation-flights-rwanda-happen-2024-04-22/

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised on Monday to start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks as the upper house of parliament finally passed required legislation, delayed for weeks by attempts to alter the plan.

Sunak said the government had booked commercial charter planes and trained staff to take migrants to Rwanda, a policy he hopes will boost his Conservative Party's flagging fortunes before an election later this year.

The House of Lords had long refused to back the divisive legislation without additional safeguards, but eventually relented after Sunak said the government would force parliament to sit as late into Monday night as necessary to get it passed.

"No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to Rwanda," Sunak told a news conference earlier on Monday.

Playing to xenophobes to bolster his chances at the polls? How Trumpian of him.

darkace77450 posted...

a policy he hopes will boost his Conservative Party's flagging fortunes before an election later this year.

Fuck 'em.

are these all people that came from Rwanda? Or just anyone is being sent there?

Zikten posted...

are these all people that came from Rwanda? Or just anyone is being sent there?

Sending illegal Albanian migrants to Rwanda is pretty diabolical

Zikten posted...

are these all people that came from Rwanda? Or just anyone is being sent there?

Yeah, why Rwanda? Seems kind of arbitrary to me, but I don't know the current happenings of the UK.

Zikten posted...

are these all people that came from Rwanda? Or just anyone is being sent there?

Being sent there to my knowledge. Ive heard Rwanda is a great place though, so hopefully they can all find a new beginning there.

IIRC they cut a deal with the government of Rwanda to take refugees in exchange for payments or something like that. I think they're technically designated as a safe third country so it would otherwise be a valid place for them to request refugee status.

I thought it was illegal to deport someone anywhere other than their home nation

a policy illegal under both international and UK law, that's noted as more expensive - pound-per-migrant - than the current policies, and completely ignores the backlogs in migration requests that are causing the issues in the first place.

the tory party truly has been on a race to the bottom since the brexit vote, each PM has been shitter than the last. when rats flee the ship, only the dumbest ones get left on the boat

the wild part is this decision only panders to the gammon-faced racists who are outraged that they might have to live next door to a minority because "this is a white christian country britain isn't british anymore". you know, the group who were already gonna vote tory.

How much longer are these idiots in power?

My favorite part is The House of Lords has long been opposed .until they were told they would need to stay late. Then they caved. lol.

Zikten posted...

are these all people that came from Rwanda? Or just anyone is being sent there?

The article says they're from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

archizzy posted...

My favorite part is The House of Lords has long been opposed .until they were told they would need to stay late. Then they caved. lol.

Yep. They made a principled stance, then caved when they realized they'd be late for supper.

Within 10 to 12 weeks may give time for a court to denounce it.

Prismsblade posted...

Being sent there to my knowledge. Ive heard Rwanda is a great place though, so hopefully they can all find a new beginning there.

It's a nice place as long as you don't attempt to oppose the one party system.

Is Rwanda apart of the Commonwealth?

Zikten posted...

I thought it was illegal to deport someone anywhere other than their home nation

The law doesn't apply to conservatives.

2Pacavelli posted...

Is Rwanda apart of the Commonwealth?

Apparently they joined the Commonwealth in 2009. A lot of people in the UK are still against this and even though the country has sunk a lot of money into it, I still think it might not happen. As for why, I think Rwanda is a cash strapped country and the UK is like, "we'll give you a ton of money if you take the people we don't want."

BlueKat posted...

Apparently they joined the Commonwealth in 2009. A lot of people in the UK are still against this and even though the country has sunk a lot of money into it, I still think it might not happen. As for why, I think Rwanda is a cash strapped country and the UK is like, "we'll give you a ton of money if you take the people we don't want."

Isn't that what they did with Australia?

on one hand, Rwanda is pretty nice, if you have the money, but it also has a growing middle-class.

on the other, it's small as hell, so a lot of development is limited, since they the tourist/preserve stuff (like where the gorillas are are a big part of their economy, and I wouldn't be surprised if you're from a neighboring country, that they'll send you back eventually.

that's also one of the bigger issues, because a lot of the neighboring areas aren't doing as well, and also, a lot of the asylum seekers are LGBTQ+.

iirc, Rwanda is more "don't ask, don't tell", it's considered illegal other places, and could mean their safety or life.

Since the Tories have been a disaster since Brexit does this mean Labor has a chance to win and then just remove this law?

name_unknown posted...

Since the Tories have been a disaster since Brexit does this mean Labor has a chance to win and then just remove this law?

Is labour that much better than the Tories? Where are they on the spectrum?

Scardude posted...

Is labour that much better than the Tories? Where are they on the spectrum?

They're currently Blairites aka neoliberals. Keir Starmer purged much of the socialist leftists, Jeremy Corbyn included, and is trying to court Tory voters disillusioned by their infighting. He infamously said that Israel has the right to starve Palestinians.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/sir-keir-starmer-hamas-terrorism-israel-defend-itself/

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

It's certainly what the Tories are desperate to do. When or whether it happens, I don't know. It's obviously going to get challenged in court every step of the way.

I don't have the words to describe how nasty, racist, and shameful the very idea of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda is. It won't even work: you think you can deter people who risk their lives crossing the world's busiest shipping lane in an overcrowded dinghy? As for the cost, you could give each of them a house and benefits for life and it would still be far cheaper:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/01/rwanda-plan-uk-asylum-seeker-cost-figures

A flailing Tory Party going beyond parody to court the votes of the very worst of society.

Here, see the calibre of the people charged with implementing and defending this inexcusable hatred:

https://youtu.be/a2N3zaUX56I

Rwanda is currently a country you can claim asylum to the UK from. So technically, the government could deport someone to Rwanda (at a current cost of over 175,000 per migrant) and then they could claim asylum and come straight back to the UK.

This is a plan that Boris Johnson came up with and Rishi Sunak, who was Chancellor at the time, disagreed with it as it is a massive waste of money. But now he's being forced into it by the hard right of the Conservative party who are desperate to avoid getting voted out at the next election. Current polls predict a Labour landslide, possibly even bigger than 1997.

I can't see a single plane taking off before the election due to all the legal challenges. So this is a massive waste of money that could be better spent on literally anything else.

This is some weird ass 18th century shit. British racism is so weird.

Fyi...

They will only take 200 individuals
It will cost 300k to a million per person
We have to take people in return
The boats are still coming
France offered to set up a centre in Calais to help process claims but we rebuffed them

Just Tory things!

Vote out the Tories.

s0nicfan posted...

IIRC they cut a deal with the government of Rwanda to take refugees in exchange for payments or something like that. I think they're technically designated as a safe third country so it would otherwise be a valid place for them to request refugee status.

To be clear, "technically designated" means the courts ruled, on the basis of the actual evidence, that Rwanda wasn't safe, so the government passed a law declaring that it counts as safe, regardless of whether it is in reality.

name_unknown posted...

Since the Tories have been a disaster since Brexit does this mean Labor has a chance to win and then just remove this law?

They're going to win. Whether they'll remove this law is another matter entirely - a Labour shadow minister said just yesterday that a Labour government won't let anyone the Tories exile to Rwanda back into the UK, so it's anyone's guess whether they'll keep exiling more of them. And there are plenty of other awful Tory policies that Labour either refuse to commit to reversing or have actively supported.

Scardude posted...

Is labour that much better than the Tories? Where are they on the spectrum?

Marignally to the left of the (extremely right-wing) Tories. And on some issues not even marginally.