>> Thank you so much for having
me.
Judy: In the United Kingdom,
prime minister Boris Johnson and
his conservative party are
facing criticism over a new
migration deal with Rwanda.
As part of a resettlement plan,
migrants who arrive illegally on
British shores would be flown
4000 miles south to Rwanda for
processing and resettling.
But the first flight, scheduled
to depart yesterday, was
canceled.
Amna nawaz has the story.
Amna: The plane was ready, the
tarmac clear, but the first
flight was canceled and it's
before takeoff.
Over 30 where expected to be
transferred under a sweeping new
immigration policy, but a ruling
by the European commission for
human rights halted
deportations.
Still in the house of commons
today, the British home
secretary said the government
will press on with their plan.
>> We believe that we are fully
compliant with our domestic and
international obligations, and
preparations for our future
flights and the next flights
have already begun.
Amna: In April, the uk and
Rwanda brokered a deal to send
asylum seekers on one-way
tickets to the east African
nation, where their asylum
applications would be processed.
Proponents say this would deter
criminal gangs from trafficking
people and stop illegal
migration into the uk, much of
it across the English channel.
>> The argument is that if
people think they're going to be
sent 4000 miles away, then they
won't attempt to make the
crossing.
Amna: Daniel sohege is an expert
on international refugee law and
campaign manager for the group
love146 uk, an international
human rights organization.
He says the policy is in line
with the government's
post-brexit agenda.
>> They want to reduce the
number of people coming into the
uk seeking asylum and control
borders is the line which is
used quite often.
Ever since the Brexit
referendum, this has been a
major key point for the
government and they've just
gradually increased the
hostility of immigration
policies.
Amna: Under the new policy, the
uk has offered Rwanda over 150
million dollars to house
refugees in facilities like this
one, with up to five years of
support.
Rwanda is already home to over
130,000 migrants and refugees,
and yesterday Yolande makolo, a
government spokesperson,
defended the deal.
>> We don't think it is immoral
to offer a home to people.
Something that we have done here
for more than 30 years.
>> Shame on you!
Amna: In the U.K., the issue has
divided public opinion.
Cross-country protests erected
earlier this week urging
governments to drop the deal.
Activists also worry about
Rwanda's human rights record.
The head of the un's refugee
agency, fillipo Grandi -
denounced the plan as
irresponsible.
>> I think we have been so clear
over the last few weeks that we
believe this is all wrong.
This is all wrong, this deal,
for so many different reasons.
Amna: British prime minister
Boris Johnson says he is
standing his ground.
>> What we are going to do, Mr.
Speaker, is continue to take the
tough decisions to take this
country forward and decisions
that are on the side of the
British people.
Amna: A July hearing will decide
the policy's legality.
Meanwhile, the fate of many
asylum-seekers in the uk hangs
in the balance.
For more I am joined by Zoe
Gardner from the joint council
for the welfare of immigrants.
The organization is among those
representing the deportation of
deportees.
Your group represented two
people on that flight yesterday,
canceled just a few minutes
before it was scheduled to take
off.
Take me inside the flurry of
case-by-case appeals that
unfolded.
How did it come down to the last
minute?
>> It's extremely stressful, not
least for the refugees
themselves and their family
members in the U.K. Seeing the
people they want to be reunited
with snatched away.
It comes down to the last minute
because the government only has
to provide notice of a
deportation five days before it
happens, so they claim there are
last-minute legal challenges.
The reality is people don't have
the opportunity before that and
it goes down to the line very
often.
Amna: Tell me about what the
deportation to Rwanda has meant
for them.
>> One of them is a kurdish
Iraqi and one of them is a
Syrian young man.
The Syrian man was targeted by
the regime in Syria.
He had to run away at a moments
notice.
There is no safe route to travel
to the U.K. To claim asylum but
he has two sisters living here
in the U.K..
When my colleague told him about
the letter, he was like, I have
received this letter but what
does it mean about my life?
She said it means you are going
to be sent to Rwanda.
He said, once Rwanda?
It takes an enormous callousness
not to engage with the humanity
of that situation, a refugee who
has escaped war, coming to seek
protection and we are sending
him on a one-way ticket around
the world to a country we can
bribe economically to take in
the people we don't want.
It makes the Rwandan government,
which is not a democracy, not a
country where political dissent
is tolerated, it gives them a
propaganda coup.
They can say they are working
with United Kingdom government
and it makes them look good, but
it makes us look terrible.
The right place for refugees
trying to get to the U.K. Is
here in the U.K.
Amna: Many refugees are allowed
in.
You have the U.K. Creating a
special Visa program to welcome
people from Ukraine who are
fleeing more, and on the other
hand you have this deportation
flight, which consists of people
from Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan,
and the U.K. Saying you are not
allowed to stay here, you have
to go to Rwanda.
How does the government answer
something that seems obviously
like a racist double standard?
>> It absolutely seems like a
racist double standard to people
across the U.K., and it
absolutely is.
They sent in place a Visa for
immigrants coming here and
within that, 100,000 people in
the U.K. Offered up their homes
to welcome people in Ukraine
fleeing that war, fleeing Syria.
Putin has attacked communities
in Syria just as he has in
Ukraine but those people have no
Visa route to come to the U.K.
So they are enforced into
desperate journeys that enrich
smuggling gangs.
We need to introduce safe routes
for an accessible asylum system
for all because we welcome the
warmth that has been shown to
Ukrainian refugees, but it isn't
right that people from the
Middle East and from Africa and,
you know, black and brown
people are being treated so
differently and so cruelly.
Amna: What is happening
politically and culturally in
the uk right now that would
create conditions where this
kind of policy is accepted and
politicians think that this is
the time to push forward with
it, as the home secretary says
that they will.
>> The prime minister's position
is actually really hanging by a
thread right now.
He's been exposed for having
broken the law, the laws he made
during lockdown to protect us
all from the covid pandemic.
He broke the law during his time
in office, and then he lied to
us about it and said there were
no parties, when it turns out
there was party after party
during lockdown.
And obviously the faith of the
public has just gone way down in
terms of trust in our
politicians and trust in the
prime minister.
And so he's trying to shore up
his position, change the
conversation, talk about
something different.
Look over there.
There are some foreigners.
We should blame them for our
problems.
So I really do hope that the
courts will find that this is
very clearly against the letter
of the refugee convention and
therefore, that it's illegal.
Amna: Zoe Gardner joining us
tonight.