Immigration minister Robert Jenrick vowed to do “whatever it takes” to push through the plan to deport illegal immigrants to Rwanda even if the Supreme Court rules against the policy on Wednesday.
The minister also said he wants an urgent and “fundamental reform” of the immigration system to reduce the overall level of it.
The Illegal Migration Act, which became law on July 20, bans anyone from making asylum claims in the UK if they enter via unregulated routes.
The government’s flagship deal with Rwanda to put the UK’s illegal immigrants on a one-way flight to the African country and not allow them to return regardless of whether their asylum claims are successful or not is central to its plan to stop people struggling across the English Channel on small boats, but critics of the policy say it’s too costly and unworkable.
The deportation plan never took flight since it was announced in April last year as the first plane was emptied by the European Court of Human Rights.
‘No Ifs, No Buts”
Mr. Jenrick suggested a potential defeat in the Supreme Court won’t stop ministers from pushing the policy through.“Be assured that as a prudent government, we have been thinking through what further steps we could take,” the minister told The Telegraph.
“We have to ensure the Rwanda policy succeeds before the next general election. No ifs, no buts, we will do whatever it takes to ensure that happens,“ he said, adding that he’s ”sure“ that the new home secretary ”shares our belief that we have to stop the boats.”
“If the UK wants to turn the good progress we’ve made this year into stopping the boats entirely, we have to implement the Rwanda policy,” he added.
Mr. Jenrick said the boats can’t be stopped without the Rwanda policy and that “you have to inject a major deterrent into the system, and you have to get the flights off.”
Asked if the government’s alternative plan involved leaving the ECHR, he said, “I’ve been clear that we have to do whatever it takes.”
Ms. Braverman in September, criticised “NGOs and others including the U.N. refugee agency” during a speech to a U.S. think tank, saying they had contested the interpretation of the Refugee Convention that people should seek refuge and claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. The then-home secretary also refused to rule out taking the UK out of ECHR.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the new home secretary has said he’s “absolutely committed to stopping the boats.”
Jenrick: Governments Betrayed Brexit Pledge
Mr. Jenrick also spoke against the UK’s post-Brexit system for legal migration, saying the Conservative governments have “betray the [Brexit] promise” to reduce migration.“Net migration is far too high,“ the immigration minister said. ”For more than 30 years, the British public have been voting for controlled migration. But politicians of all stripes have failed to deliver the migration system that they’re seeking.
“When we left the European Union, we took back control of the levers of migration. But then we went on to betray the promise by failing to establish a system which significantly reduced levels of migration. I want to see fundamental reform of our system, and that needs to happen as a matter of urgency,” the minister said.
The Epoch Times has reached out to the Home Office for comments.
