Britain has removed the first failed asylum seeker to Rwanda under a voluntary scheme drawn up by the Government to help clear the backlog of migrants stuck in Britain.
The unnamed migrant was flown out of the UK on Monday evening to Rwanda, where he will be able to start a new life under an agreement negotiated earlier this year.
The deal, which is separate from the stalled enforced deportation scheme, is aimed at removing migrants whose claims have been rejected and who cannot remain in the UK but are unable to return to their own country.
In return for the £3,000 support normally offered to repatriated migrants and the prospect of citizenship in Rwanda, he was flown by the Government to the central African state, which is deemed by the Government a safe third country.
The scheme is not designed to deter crossings but instead mirrors the existing voluntary returns system that enables failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals, and other migrants with no right to remain in the UK to return to their home country.
Under these voluntary returns schemes, they can receive financial assistance worth up to £3,000 to return to their “country of origin”.
The scheme is ‘legal as resettlements are voluntary’
Monday’s Rwanda deportation is the first of its kind because it is the first time a migrant has been paid to leave the UK without going back to their country of origin.
Ministers believe this scheme is legal, as resettlements would be voluntary.
After his bid to stay in Britain was rejected at the end of 2023, the man – who is of African origin – voluntarily accepted passage to a new life in the central African nation.
It comes ahead of Rishi Sunak’s efforts to get the first enforced migrant deportation flights off the ground in 10 to 12 weeks.
More than 5,700 migrants have been identified for removal but only 2,145 of them continue to report to the Home Office and can be located for detention, according to a document released on Monday.
The Home Office has insisted that the remaining 3,557 have not necessarily absconded but are not subject to the same reporting restrictions, which means they are likely to be more difficult to locate for detention.
Missing migrants ‘will end up in Ireland’
Kevin Saunders, who was Border Force’s chief immigration officer from 2001 to 2016, warned the 3,500 were likely to disappear and probably end up in Ireland.
He said that the migrants were originally identified for deportation to Rwanda after arriving in 2022 and 2023 but had so far avoided removal.
“Now that we have the new Rwanda Act on the table, they are worried they are going to be removed so they have done a disappearing act,” said Mr Saunders.
Asked on BBC Radio 4 if the Home Office was wrong to claim they were not missing, he said: “I would not like to say the Home Office are telling porkies. Let’s say they temporarily cannot find them.
“It is people they have lost contact with. They are not going to appear, certainly not in the UK. They will probably turn up in Ireland. They know they are in the frame to be removed. They don’t want to be removed so they are going to disappear.”
Mr. Saunders said he still believed the Rwanda deportation scheme would work and would act as a deterrent but he said he would have preferred that all migrants entering the UK illegally across the Channel should be detained despite the huge cost.
