LONDON –
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s latest effort to send some migrants to Rwanda finally won parliament’s approval early Tuesday, hours after he promised deportation flights would begin in July.
The parliamentary deadlock that had paralyzed legislation for two months was finally broken shortly after midnight, when the unelected House of Lords “recognised the primacy” of the elected House of Commons and abandoned the last of the proposed amendments, clearing the path for the bill to be approved. become law.
Hours earlier, Sunak held a rare morning press conference to demand that the Lords stop blocking his key proposal to end the tide of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, pledging that both houses of Parliament would remain in session. until it was approved. .
The legislative deadlock was just the latest hurdle to delay implementation of a plan that has been repeatedly blocked by a series of court rulings and opposition from human rights activists who say it is illegal and inhumane. Immigrant advocates have vowed to continue the fight against this.
“For almost two years, our opponents have used every trick possible to block fights and keep votes,” Sunak told reporters Monday morning in London. “But enough is enough. No more evasion, no more delays.”
The government plans to deport some of those entering the UK illegally to Rwanda as a deterrent to migrants risking their lives in leaky inflatable boats, in the hope of being able to claim asylum once they arrive in Britain.
Despite Parliament passing the legislation, further court challenges may still delay deportation flights, said Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a dry, homey place,” he said. “We will see some attempts to legally block deportations.”
Sunak has risked his political future on deportation flights, making a promise to “stop the boats” a key part of his speech to voters as opinion polls show his Conservative Party lagging far behind the Labor Party. ahead of the general election later this year. . Next week’s local elections are seen as a barometer of how parties will fare in the general election.
The debate in Britain comes as countries in Western Europe and North America look for ways to curb growing numbers of migrants as war, climate change and political oppression force people from their homes.
Small boat crossings are a major political issue in Britain, where they are seen as evidence of the government’s failure to control immigration.
The number of migrants arriving in Britain on small boats has soared to 45,774 in 2022, up from just 299 four years earlier, as people seeking refuge pay criminal gangs thousands of pounds to transport them across the Channel.
Last year, small boat arrivals fell to 29,437 as the government cracked down on human traffickers and reached a deal to return Albanians to their home country.
“I think the biggest takeaway is how desperate the government clearly is to pass this legislation on the grounds that it will allow them to at least make a down payment on their promise to stop the boats,” Bale said.
While Sunak acknowledged he would miss his original deadline of launching the first deportation flights this spring, he blamed the delays on continued resistance from the opposition Labor Party.
On Monday, Sunak said the first flights would take off in 10 to 12 weeks, but declined to provide details on how many people would be deported or when exactly the flights would take place because he said the information could help opponents continue trying to thwart the policy. . .
In preparation for the bill’s passage, the government has already chartered planes for deportation flights, increased detention space, hired more immigration caseworkers and freed up court space to handle appeals, Sunak said.
He also suggested the government was prepared to ignore the European Court of Human Rights if it tried to block the deportations.
“We are ready, the plans are in place and these flights will go ahead no matter what,” Sunak said. “No foreign court will stop us from canceling flights.”
The current legislation, known as the Rwanda Security Bill, is a response to a UK Supreme Court decision that blocked deportation flights because the government could not guarantee the safety of migrants sent to Rwanda. After signing a new treaty with Rwanda to strengthen migrant protection, the government proposed new legislation declaring Rwanda a safe country.
The bill has stalled due to the idiosyncrasies of the British legislative system. The House of Lords is tasked with reviewing and offering amendments to measures passed by the House of Commons, but does not have the power to block legislation directly.
As a result, the Rwanda bill bounced between the two houses of Parliament, with the Lords repeatedly offering amendments only to be rejected by the Commons, which then sent the legislation back to the upper house.
Critics of the government’s policy refused to take their next step. James Wilson, director of Detention Action, which campaigns against human rights abuses in the immigration system, urged the public to look beyond the political gridlock and remember what is at stake.
“Ultimately, the most important points here are not the ins and outs of Parliament and the things that are happening there,” he told The Associated Press. “In the end, it’s about people. It’s about people’s lives.”