Prime Minister of the UK Boris JohnsonOpposition MPs charged that the administration was attempting to divert attention away from a scandal involving government parties who broke pandemic lockdown laws.
The Conservative government of the United Kingdom has reached an agreement with Rwanda to relocate some asylum seekers thousands of miles away to the East African country, a decision that opposition politicians and refugee organisations have slammed as harsh, impractical, and a waste of public funds.
On Thursday, Home Secretary Priti Patel travelled to Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, to form a “economic development partnership” between the two countries. Some migrants who arrive in the United Kingdom in tiny boats across the English Channel will be picked up by the British authorities and flown 4,000 miles to Rwanda, ostensibly for good. Migrants have historically utilised northern France as a starting point to reach the United Kingdom, either by stowing away in lorries or ferries, or — more recently, after the coronavirus outbreak shut down alternative routes in 2020 — by smuggling dinghies and other small boats. Last year, over 28,000 persons arrived in the United Kingdom aboard small boats, up from 8,500 in 2020. There have been dozens of deaths, including 27 in November when a single boat sank. Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed on Thursday that “vile people traffickers” were exploiting the defenceless and turning the English Channel into a “watery tomb.”
Johnson said “those who try to skip the queue or abuse our system” will be “swiftly and compassionately deported to a safe third nation or their place of origin” in a speech along the Channel shore.
“Anyone entering the United Kingdom unlawfully… may now be transferred to Rwanda,” he warned.
Opposition MPs charged that the administration was attempting to divert attention away from a scandal involving government parties who broke pandemic lockdown laws. Johnson was one of scores of persons penalised by police this week for his role in the parties, making him the first British politician to be found guilty of breaking the law while in office. He is defying calls to quit from opponents and some members of his own party.
