Johnson said that the change will combat the “vile people smugglers”
The Tory government has laid out its “unethical” plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda while they await processing to enter the UK.
In a press conference today (April 14) Prime Minister Boris Johnson detailed his government’s plans that will see migrants “offshored” 4,000 miles away from the UK while they wait for a decision on their asylum application. It’s believed that the Rwandan government will receive £120m as part of the plans, which the British taxpayer will finance, according to The Independent.
Johnson said that the change will combat the “vile people smugglers” turning the ocean into a “watery graveyard”, reports Sky News.
8 days ago, here’s a Home Office Minister saying there is absolutely no possibility of the government sending refugees to Rwanda, and that if there were he would know about it. 8 days ago. pic.twitter.com/OA5ClKWGW6
— Brendan May (@bmay) April 13, 2022
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper branded the announcement as “desperate and shameful” as it would cost the UK taxpayer billions during the cost of living crisis. She believes it will make asylum processes “harder, not easier.”
Tories
If you're white Ukrainians we'll bring you into our homes & stop buying oil from your persecutors.
If you're from Africa/Middle-East we'll send you to concentration camps in Rwanda while selling bombs to the people who blew up your home.
But we're definitely not racist.
— Femi (@Femi_Sorry) April 14, 2022
She argued that it’s an attempt from the Prime Minister to “distract from his own law-breaking.”
“The Home Office is now a catalogue of failure, from passport queues to Ukrainian visa delays, to rising crime and falling prosecutions. Instead of getting a grip on the basics, all Priti Patel and Mr Johnson do is come up with wild and unworkable headlines. Britain deserves better,” she suggested.
“Far from enabling people to rebuild their lives, we know from where this has been done by other countries [that] it only results in high levels of self-harm and mental health issues, and can also lead to people ending up back in the hands of people smugglers,” Enver Solomon, from Refugee Council, said.
Apparently "we can't afford to pay migrants £39.63 a week" but we *can* afford £1m+ per head to ship them off to Rwanda.
Astonishing maths.
— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) April 14, 2022
Even Johnson’s own legions are against the move, with Conservative former minister Andrew Mitchell stating that it would cost roughly $2m per refugee. The Ritz hotel would be cheaper, he argued.
We’re sending people who try to seek a safe life here in the UK to Rwanda? Is that what we’re doing? Lower than low we are at the top!
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) April 14, 2022
According to reports, Home Secretary Priti Patel wants to curb the number of “economic migrants” entering the country. Patel is currently in the Rwandan capital of Kigali where she is set to sign the deal and will later detail the “migration and economic development partnership.”
This dislike for this govt just continues to grow by the day. How can they think it’s okay to send victims of war, torture and assault 4,500 miles away to Rwanda?
— Tim Adams (@TimAdams76) April 13, 2022
Related links:
- Refugee crisis: ‘Why must I live like an animal while Ukrainians get help to England?’
- ‘It’s England or die’ – life inside the refugee camps in northern France
- Visas for Ukraine refugees stuck in Calais will be processed in Lille – 70 miles away
