On Wednesday, the British Supreme Court struck down a plan that would have deported migrants from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia to Rwanda.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had spoken of “stopping the boats” in reference to the thousands of migrants who have flooded England. The Rwanda plan was the idea of former interior minister Suella Braverman, who was fired by Sunak on Monday after warning Islamists wanted “primacy” in England.
“This was not the outcome we wanted, but we have spent the last few months planning for all eventualities and we remain completely committed to stopping the boats,” Sunak said after the ruling was issued.
The Supreme Court judges, who relied on the fact that Great Britain subscribes to the European Convention on Human Rights declared there was “a real risk that persons sent to Rwanda would be returned to their home countries where they face persecution or other inhumane treatment when, in fact, they have a good claim for asylum,” NBC News reported.
The court wrote, that section 2 of the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993 “requires domestic courts to take into account the judgments of the European Court when determining a question which has arisen in connection with a right guaranteed by the ECHR.”
“We conclude that the Court of Appeal was correct to reverse the decision of the Divisional Court, and was entitled to find that there are substantial grounds for believing that the removal of the claimants to Rwanda would expose them to a real risk of ill-treatment by reason of refoulement,” the court concluded. “Refoulement” means forcing refugees or asylum seekers to return to a country where they might be persecuted. “It was accordingly correct to hold that the Secretary of State’s policy is unlawful. The Secretary of State’s appeal is therefore dismissed.”
The court did admit, “Under international law, states have the right to control the entry, residence and expulsion of aliens, and to counter attempts to circumvent immigration restrictions, subject to their treaty obligations and to any relevant principles of customary international law.”
65,000 migrants are projected to cross the English Channel from France in 2023 into England.