U.K. law could send Ukrainian refugees who enter via Ireland to Rwanda
If Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion reach Britain via Ireland without travel documents, they could be caught up in a contentious new plan under which migrants who don’t meet strict asylum criteria will be flown to Rwanda for possible resettlement there, U.K. lawmakers have been told by a top immigration official.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the Rwanda plan as part of a crackdown on smuggling routes across the English Channel. Under the plan, which passed into law late last month, most migrants who cross illegally will be deemed inadmissible to claim asylum because their journeys will have taken them through safe countries before their arrival in Britain.
“You are leaving open the possibility that Ukrainians who have crossed from Dublin to Belfast could conceivably end up in Rwanda,” said Stuart C. McDonald, the Scottish National Party member of Parliament who posed the question.
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