New Labor Government UK It announced on Thursday 25 that it had abandoned the Conservative administration's plan to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda and deported 46 people to Vietnam and East Timor.
Now, according to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, flights initially intended to transport undocumented immigrants to the African country will be used to deport foreign criminals and immigration violators. The chartered flight, which departed this Wednesday, the 24th, will be the first since 2022 to East Timor and Vietnam.
“Today's flight shows that the government is taking swift and decisive action to secure our borders and bring back those who have no right to be here,” Cooper commented.
According to the secretary, the plan to send migrants to Rwanda, aimed at preventing small boats from northern France from crossing the English Channel, is one of the “most shocking wastes of taxpayers' money”.
Change of plans
Since Labor was elected in early July and Keir Starmer became UK Prime Minister, the Conservatives' plans to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda have been shelved. Earlier, the Supreme Court held that the act was illegal under international law. Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak plans to start flights from this month.
In total, the conservatives spent 700 euros on the project. To date, only four migrants have voluntarily moved to Rwanda. The Sunak government plans to spend more than €10 billion on the project's budget.
Labour's new approach is to prioritize the return of rejected asylum seekers to safe countries. The United Kingdom wants to develop closer cooperation with European partner countries to stop people smuggling across the English Channel, which has taken 16,000 people to the British border this year alone.
