UK says plan to stop Channel crossings pushes bounds of law
The UK will announce details of the draft law, which has been heavily criticized by refugee rights groups.
The UK government says it is ready for legal challenges for a tough new law designed to prevent tens of thousands of people a year from reaching the country in small boats across the English Channel.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said on Tuesday the government had “pushed the boundaries of international law” with a bill that would ban asylum applications from anyone entering the UK through unauthorized means, and would force the government to detain and then deport them “to their home country or a safe third country”.
They would never be allowed back into the country.
“If you come here illegally it must be that you can’t stay,” Braverman wrote in the Daily Telegraph.
The UK government says many of those making the journey are economic migrants, rather than refugees, pointing to an increase last year in arrivals from Albania, a European country the UK considers safe.
Refugee groups say most people arriving across the Channel are fleeing war, persecution or famine in countries such as Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq. A majority of those whose applications have been processed have been granted asylum in the UK.
The government says its “Illegal Migration Bill,” due to be tabled in parliament on Tuesday, will deter “migrants” and hinder smuggling gangs that send desperate people on dangerous journeys across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the law would “take back” control of Britain’s borders – a central pledge of the successful but divisive campaign to take Britain out of the European Union.
Critics say the plan is unethical and unworkable as people fleeing war and persecution cannot be sent home.
“The bill will not prevent small boats from crossing the Channel. It will only add to the trauma of the people in these boats, while further damaging Britain’s global reputation for fairness and compassion,” said Laura Kyrke-Smith, executive director of the humanitarian group International Rescue Committee .
Britain receives fewer asylum seekers than some European countries such as Italy, Germany or France. But thousands of people from all over the world travel to the north of France every year in hopes of reaching the UK, drawn by family ties, the English language or the perceived ease of finding a job.
Most are attempting the journey in dinghies and other small craft now that authorities have restricted other routes, such as stowage in buses or trucks.
More than 45,000 people arrived in Britain by boat in 2022, up from 28,000 in 2021 and 8,500 in 2020. Most subsequently applied for asylum, but a backlog of more than 160,000 cases has left many languishing in overcrowded processing centers or hotels , without the right to work.
The charities say refugees and migrants are risking the journey across the Channel because there are few safe, legal ways to reach the UK.
The government says that once the new law is in effect, it will create more legal avenues for asylum, in addition to those for Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Ukraine. But it has not said how many asylum seekers will be admitted, or when the program will start.
It is also unclear which safe third countries will be willing to take in people deported from Britain. A plan announced by the UK last year to send people arriving in Britain on a one-way ticket to Rwanda has been mired in legal challenges. No one has been sent to the East African country, although Britain has already paid Rwanda £140 million ($170 million) under the deal.