The UK government is set to expedite the asylum claims of around 90,000 migrants previously earmarked for deportation to Rwanda. This move, expected to be announced by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, represents a stark departure from the previous administration’s stance on illegal migration and asylum processing.
The new legislation, to be unveiled this week, will empower immigration caseworkers to start processing the asylum claims of individuals who had been threatened with removal to Rwanda after entering the UK illegally. The Refugee Council, a UK-based charity, estimates that approximately 60,000 of these 90,000 migrants will be granted asylum, considering the profiles of their countries of origin.
Officials are expected to prioritise the 30% of asylum seekers from “safe” countries such as Vietnam, Albania, Egypt, and India. These applications are likely to be rejected, allowing for expedited deportation to their home countries. This prioritization aims to streamline the process and focus resources on individuals with higher chances of obtaining asylum.
Currently, nearly 36,000 migrants are housed in hotels, costing taxpayers £2.9 million per day. Ms Cooper has pledged to “start saving money straight away” and aims to end the use of hotels for housing migrants within a year. This shift not only aims to reduce costs but also to improve the living conditions for asylum seekers by moving them into more suitable accommodations.
Interestingly, Labour can integrate these migrants into the asylum system without repealing the former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s Illegal Migration Act. This Act, which stipulates that any migrant arriving illegally in the past 18 months would have their claims treated as inadmissible and would be deported to Rwanda, was never fully activated. Therefore, Labour can bypass the lengthy process of repealing the Act and instead proceed with processing the claims.
In the King’s Speech on Wednesday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer pledged to “fix the broken asylum system” by clearing the asylum backlog, fast-tracking returns of migrants to safe countries, and scrapping the “incredibly costly” Rwanda scheme. The proposed Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill will grant border force staff counter-terrorism style powers to dismantle people-smuggling gangs.
The establishment of a new Border Security Command, funded by scrapping the Rwanda scheme, is expected to save £100 million in future payments and tens of millions that would have been spent on relocated migrants. To date, Rwanda has received £290 million under the agreement overseen by Boris Johnson, with only four failed asylum seekers voluntarily transferred to the African state.
Labour’s new measures also include creating offences to penalize social media companies that fail to remove advertisements from people smugglers. There are plans to revive proposals making it an offence to advertise people smuggling services, carrying a maximum penalty of five years in jail. Additionally, “precursor” offences are proposed to penalize those supplying materials, such as boats and equipment, to organized crime gangs.
With new legislation poised to overhaul the asylum process and significant cost-saving measures on the horizon, the government aims to address the complex challenges of immigration and border security comprehensively. This reflective shift signals a move towards a more humane and efficient system, promising to reshape the UK’s approach to asylum and migration in the coming years.