First migrants to be sent to Rwanda in a fortnight, says Home Office

The government have said it will shortly begin shipping out migrants to Rwanda for processing

The Home Office have said it has issued formal removal notices as the "final administrative step" before deporting a number of asylum seekers to Rwanda. While little detail around the policy has been made available, the department said the first flight was "expected" to leave in the next two weeks, on June 14. It is not clear how many people will be on it, or what nationalities they will be. Priti Patel said: "Our world-leading partnership with Rwanda is a key part of our strategy to overhaul the broken asylum system and break the evil people-smugglers' business model. "Today's announcement is another critical step towards delivering that partnership and, while we know attempts will now be made to frustrate the process and delay removals, I will not be deterred and remain fully committed to delivering what the British public expect." The Home Office say the policy is designed to break people-smuggling networks and stem the flow of migrants across the Channel, but charities say there is little evidence to substantiate their claims. Sonya Sceats, Chief Executive at Freedom from Torture, said the "cruel scheme" had the potential to push "desperate men, women and children into taking ever more dangerous journeys to Britain, while further increasing the profits of the smuggling gangs the Home Secretary claims to be fighting." She said: “The permanent secretary of the Home Office has already questioned the deterrent value of this government’s cruel plan to expel asylum seekers to Rwanda and torture survivors we work with are adamant it will fail, so reports that asylum seekers in Calais still intend to seek safety in the UK regardless are unsurprising. Last week, PoliticsJOE travelled to Calais to meet some of the migrants that could be shipped to Rwanda. https://twitter.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/status/1531683927215247363?s=20&t=jQIkvR6eI9ACCBLFKMtFzA Related Links

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