UK court rules migrant deportation flights to Rwanda are legal

London’s High Court ruled Monday (19 December) that the government’s controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is legal, whereby the decision comes as UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stakes his future on stopping a record number of migrant arrivals in small boats.

Under a deal struck by the British government with Kigali in April, Britain aims to send tens of thousands of migrants who arrive on its shores illegally more than 6,4000 km to Rwanda. The agreement allows for the deportation of migrants who arrived in Britain illegally on a one-way trip to the landlocked country in Central Africa with a questionable human rights record to have their asylum claims processed. The agreement also stipulates that applicants who are granted asylum would be eligible to remain in Rwanda but would not be eligible to return to Britain.

Britain had to cancel the first flight to Rwanda in June after the European Court of Human Right blocked the move, saying that the plan carried “a real risk of irreversible harm.” But the victory for the government does not mean that flights can take off straight away because there may be a further appeal in the British courts and the ECHR injunction imposed during the summer prevents any immediate deportations until the conclusion of legal action in the United Kingdom. Immigration has climbed in voters’ priorities to become the third most important issue facing the country and Sunak’s government after the economy and health, polls show.