A government source told Sky News that British officials are working for deportation flights to Rwanda to begin “by summer”.
The Home Secretary signed an update to the government’s immigration agreement with the central African country this weekend, expanding it to cover “all categories of people who pass through safe countries and undertake illegal and dangerous journeys to the UK”.
A statement from the Home Office said it would allow the government to deliver its new illegal immigration bill because it would mean those coming to the UK illegally, who “cannot be repatriated”, would be “within scope to be taken to Rwanda”.
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Rwanda: Braverman visits the facilities
The government source said it would “close all loopholes” for those who pray illegally, including those who claim to be victims of modern slavery.
Suela Braverman She hailed the UK’s strengthening immigration partnership when she visited the capital, Kigali, where she met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and the country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr. Vincent Perrota.
The UK government plans to send tens of thousands of migrants more than 4,000 miles away to Rwanda as part of a A £120m deal with Rwanda was agreed last year.
No one has made the trip yet.
a The flight has stopped At the eleventh hour of June last year, after an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
On Saturday, Ms. Braverman and Dr. Perotta signed an updated Memorandum of Understanding to expand the partnership further.
Soila Braverman (centre) tours a construction site on the outskirts of Kigali during her visit to Rwanda
Rwanda has ‘abundant resources’
Referring to the government’s steps, Ms Braverman said: “What the Bill does do is significantly and dramatically reduce the legal avenues available – the claims available to people to thwart their deportation or removal from the UK.
“To delay their arrest. To undermine our rules. And what we’re seeing right now is people using allegations of modern slavery, using asylum claims, using human rights laws… just to frustrate our duty to control our borders.”
She continued: “Our bill fixes that, and we’ve struck the right balance between fairness, on the one hand, to provide a strong system of legal duties and powers for detention and removal, and compassion – so that we resettle people to a safe country.
“And as we have seen here in Rwanda, there are ample resources to support people and adequately house them so they can live safe and secure lives.”
The Minister of Interior tours the new construction training academy in Kigali during her visit to Rwanda
Braverman visits potential immigrant housing
During her visit to Rwanda, she The Home Secretary spent time interviewing the refugeeswho settled in the country.
It also toured the newly built housing and accommodation units, which will be used to house those relocated to Rwanda.
One of the refugees living in Rwanda, Fissiha Teme, told reporters that he “never felt like I was considered a foreigner,” but that he did not see the African country having the capacity to absorb “several thousand” migrants.
The 48-year-old, along with his wife and four children, spoke to the media after the interior minister claimed: “Rwanda has the capacity to resettle several thousand people, and can quickly stand in for accommodations once the flights start.”
Braverman also said the suggestion that Rwanda could only take 200 people is “a completely false narrative propagated by critics who want to scrap the deal”.
The figure quoted was used by Rwandan government spokesman Yolande Makulu when he spoke to British journalists last year.
Soila Braverman visits a newly built home with the Minister of Information, Communications and Technology, Claudette Aire, in Rwanda
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Ms. Braverman met with startup investment companies as well as entrepreneurs to discuss the scope of businesses and job opportunities available to people in Rwanda.
Earlier this month, the Prime Minister announced what package she would see Creation of a new detention center in France As well as deploying more French personnel and improved technology to patrol beaches in a joint effort to reduce illegal immigration.
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Throughout 2022, some 45,728 people crossed into the UK Across the channel – 60% increase over the previous year.
Ms. Braverman said she was visiting Rwanda this weekend “to reinforce the government’s commitment to the partnership as part of our plan to stop the boats and to discuss plans to operationalize our agreement soon.”