UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said flights to Rwanda to deport asylum seekers and those who have entered the UK illegally will commence within 10 – 12 weeks despite what he called continual efforts from the Labour party to derail the policy.
Speaking at a press conference in London today Sunak said that. “For almost two years our opponents have used every trick in the book to block flights and keep the boats coming. But Enough is enough.”
“These flights are going to Rwanda.”
Speaking of criminal gangs who profit from ferrying illegal aliens onto UK shores he said “We’re going to deliver this indispensable deterrent so that we finally break the business model of the criminal gangs and save lives. Starting from the moment that the bill passes, we will begin the process of removing those identified for the first flight.”
Sunak said that resources had been put in place to detain illegals as preparation for their deportation is made. “ We’ve increased dettension spaces to 2,200 to quickly process claims. We’ve got 200 trained dedicated case workers ready and waiting to deal with any legal cases quickly and decisively.” he said adding that 25 courtrooms and 150 judges who could provide over 5,000 hours of courtroom time had been identified.
“Most importantly” he said, “ once the processing is complete, we will physically remove people.”
“I can confirm that we’ve put an airfield on standby, booked commercial charter planes for specific slots, and we have 500 highly trained individuals ready to escort illegal migrants all the way to Rwanda, with 300 more trained in the coming weeks.” he said.
Noting that this operation is “one of the most complex operational endeavors The Home Office has carried out” Sunak said that “these flights will go, come what may and no foreign court will stop us from getting flights off.”
Sunak expressed gratitude to the government of Rwanda “for their work in strengthening their asylum system, passing legislation and setting up a new Appeals Tribunal.”
He said that the next few weeks “will be about action” and that actions and not words were needed in order to address the problem of illegal and unsafe migration into the UK.
While declining to give specifics on the operational details of the flights saying that a “small but loud minority” had continued in its efforts to derail the Rwanda plan Sunak said that “The first flight will leave in 10 to 12 weeks.”
The Prime Minister added that success in this regard would rely not only upon the commencement of deportation flights but also on “the relentless continual process of successfully and permanently removing people to Rwanda with a regular rhythm of multiple flights every month over the summer and beyond, until the boats are stopped.”
Turning to humanitarian concerns about the policy he said that he was not “lacking in compassion” but that “the truth is the opposite”.
“We are in a battle with callous, sophisticated and global criminal gangs who care nothing for the lives they risk in unseaworthy dinghies” noting that nine people including a 7-year-old girl had died attempting to cross the English channel this year alone.
Sunak said the largest ever deal had been secured with France to strengthen interceptions on the French coastline saying that the rate of illegal migration from Albania which had accounted for 1/3 of all arrivals had fallen by 90%.
He said that removal to Rwanda would free up 150 hotels back to local communities.
Speaking of irregular migration numbers for 2023, he said “We got the number of small boat arrivals last year down by more than a third. The first time they had fallen since this phenomenon began. And at a time when European countries were seeing numbers rise exponentially.”
Sunak said that despite these successes, the “sophisticated” criminal gangs involved in illegal border crossings were “changing tactics once again, as well as piling twice as many people into small dinghies and increasing violence against French police.”
He added that criminal gangs had moved towards exploiting “vulnerable Vietnamese migrants” whose illegal migration to the UK has increased “tenfold and account for almost all the increase in small boat numbers we have seen this year,” he said.
Saying that it was not enough to simply keep “reacting to the changing tactics” of the gangs Sunak said that “innovative solutions” were needed to address what he said was a “global migration crisis” and to “disrupt the business model of people smuggling gangs and save lives.”
He said “systematic deterrents” were needed which made it clear that anyone who enters the UK illegally “will not be able to stay”.