Illegal immigration plagues the world; the United States, Russia, and Europe also have the same problem
Share 4 On July 17, 2023, a pro-refugee demonstration against the illegal immigration bill was held in Parliament Square in London (Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Kyodo News Images)
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(Yoichi Masuzoe: international political scientist)
On April 22nd, the British Parliament passed a bill to deport illegal immigrants to Rwanda, Africa. In response, Prime Minister Sunak announced that the first flights to Rwanda would start in 10 to 12 weeks. What is behind this unusual response?
Rapid increase in illegal immigration
The Rwandan deportation plan was devised by the then Boris Johnson government in April 2022, and is a policy aimed at stopping illegal immigration. The number of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats has been increasing for five years. In 2018, there were about 300 people, but in 2022 there were about 45,000 people, and in 2023 it will remain high at about 30,000 people, and in 2024 there will be 6,265 people from April 21. There are.
Many of the immigrants come from Afghanistan, Iran, Türkiye, Eritrea, and other countries.
Migrants land on the beach in Dungeness, UK, November 24, 2021 (Xinhua/Kyodo News Images)
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Detaining illegal immigrants is costly and causes problems such as deteriorating security. Furthermore, many people lose their lives in maritime accidents while trying to migrate in small boats.
Johnson’s government tried to reach an agreement with Rwanda and carry out the deportation, but this was stopped in June 2022 when the European Court of Human Rights issued an interim injunction.
In November 2023, the UK Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal. This is because there is a risk that they will be forcibly returned to their country of birth after being transferred to Rwanda, which would breach the Refugee Convention, to which the UK is a party.
So the government signed an agreement with Rwanda guaranteeing that migrants would not be sent back to third countries. The government then introduced an emergency bill declaring Rwanda a safe country for immigrants. It also orders courts to exclude key parts of human rights law, preventing the Supreme Court from intervening.
The bill stalled, with the Senate sending it back five times, and the House rejecting the Senate’s amendments. In the end, the Senate withdrew the amendment, stating “respect for the supremacy of the elected House of Representatives,” and the bill was passed as originally drafted.
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