UK Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick resigned on Wednesday, a day after signing a new deal with Rwanda to deport asylum seekers. “I cannot be in office when I deeply disagree with the direction of the government’s migration policy,” he explained.
This Wednesday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak introduced a bill he deemed an emergency, paving the way for the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda. It proposed “the toughest migration law ever drafted”. A few hours later, the minister responsible for immigration resigned.
“With this historic new emergency law we will control our borders, prevent people from making dangerous crossings across the English Channel and end further legal action”, Sunak argued, as deportations begin next spring.
Robert Jenrick also wanted: the intervention of national and international courts should be limited. I was probably waiting for an announcement about the UK’s intention to withdraw from the European Court of Human Rights.
It is with great regret that he has written to the Prime Minister asking him to resign from the post of Immigration Minister.
I cannot continue my position when I have such strong disagreements with the direction of the Government’s policy on immigration. pic.twitter.com/Zg3ezFJr8t
— Robert Jenrick (@RobertJenrick) December 6, 2023
“Governments have a responsibility to put national interests above strongly contested interpretations of international law,” he said in a statement posted on social media. “The stakes are high in the search for stronger measures to end the merry-go-round of judicial appeals that threaten to cripple the program and paralyze its deterrent intent.”
A month ago, the British Supreme Court ruled that the government’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda was illegal. It identified “serious and systemic deficiencies in the practices and institutions” handling asylum claims in the African country, and the U.N. Apart from the “obvious inadequacy of the Rwandan government’s knowledge of the requirements” regarding the treaty. Status of refugees.
This Tuesday, the British executive emphasized the plan presented in 2022, still Boris Johnson. Home Affairs Minister James cleverly signed a new deal for Kigali that seeks to avoid Supreme Court observations and guarantees that migrants arriving in Rwanda will not be deported back to the country where their lives or freedom are threatened.
Since the start of his mandate, the government’s immigration policy has been criticized by the opposition European Union and the United Nations, while far-right Conservative Rishi Sunak has called for a tougher crackdown on illegal immigration. by countries and human rights organizations.
