Boris Johnson revealed that the first 50 migrants were said to be sent to Rwanda within two weeks.
The policy has been widely criticized by human rights charities and has even met with backlash from Tory supporters, former Prime Minister Theresa May and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The government has said it is prepared for a wave of lawsuits as it prepares to send migrants to the East African nation within two weeks. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Mr Johnson said migrants had already been given “notices of intent”, marking the start of the process.
“There will be a lot of legal opposition from the types of companies that have been taking taxpayers’ money for a long time to raise such cases and thwart the will of the people, the will of parliament,” Mr Johnson said.
“We are ready for that. We will dig into the battle – we will make it work. We have a huge flowchart of things we need to do to deal with him with left-wing lawyers. “
Johnson said ministers were ready to “fight” to work out the policy
(EPA)
The controversial policy has faced serious scrutiny since it was announced in recent reports that LGBT + refugees sent to Rwanda could face persecution, and Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion could also be sent to East Africa.
The impact assessment of the Ministry of Interior’s equality policy, published this week, shows that there are “concerns” about the treatment of some LGBTQ + people and that investigations show that “bad treatment” of this group is “more than one-off” .
The document also revealed that some asylum seekers in Rwanda were forced to wait years for a decision, and two-thirds were eventually rejected.
Immigration Minister Tom Parsglow, meanwhile, said decisions to send asylum seekers to the East African country would be considered on a case-by-case basis – and did not deny that people who had fled Ukraine could be among them.
Home Secretary Priti Patel travels to East Africa last month to sign an agreement for Rwanda to accept illegal migrants from the UK
(PA)
Hearing evidence before the Home Affairs Committee, he also declined to rule out that Afghan nationals who worked with the British military could be deported under the policy.
Asked if refugees who had fled the Russian invasion could be among the relocated cohort, Mr Parsglov said: “There is absolutely no reason for a Ukrainian to board a small boat and pay a smuggler to get to the UK. .
“People need to use the safe and legal routes that are available. We look at the cases on a case-by-case basis, but it is extremely important to understand that people must use safe and legal roads if they come from Ukraine. It would be absurd to do otherwise. “
Data from the Ministry of the Interior show that 28,526 people crossed the English Channel in 2021, compared to 8,466 the year before.
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