The UK’s Home Office is set to embark on a process of detaining asylum seekers throughout the country beginning Monday, The Guardian reports. This action, involving deportations to Rwanda, is set to occur much earlier than predicted. The government intends to detain those who arrive for regular appointments at immigration centres, in addition to apprehending individuals countrywide over a period of two weeks.
Upon being detained, the refugees will immediately be brought to holding centres that have been set up particularly for this operation. They will be kept here until available flights to Rwanda are scheduled. Some individuals destined for these flights are already in detention.
This operation commences ahead of upcoming local council elections in England, which some speculate is an attempt to boost British prime minister Rishi Sunak’s assertion that he is taking a hard line on unlawful migration.
Sunak announced last week that the inaugural Rwanda-bound flights would be taking off 10 to 12 weeks after the government pushed through a controversial law legalising the said flights. Simon Harris, the Taoiseach, has asked the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, to present a legislation next week that would allow for asylum seekers to be returned to the UK.
The prime minister has expressed that the Rwanda plan is functioning as a deterrent, with evidence of an increased migrant flow into Ireland. Amidst high protest and campaigns against detentions, authorities in Scotland have been prepped.
Twice before, Scottish communities have successfully staged large scale demonstrations on Kenmure Street in Glasgow and Nicolson Square in Edinburgh, to prevent deportations. Each time saw hundreds of people forming human barricades around immigration enforcement vehicles to obstruct the removal of asylum seekers.
Though officers of Police Scotland will not partake in the detentions for the Rwanda-bound flights, they will engage in crowd management and in policing Border Force operations. Sunak, speaking before the Lords and Commons convened to pass the Rwanda (asylum and immigration) Bill, stated that detention facilities have been expanded to accommodate 2,200. Additionally, 200 special case workers are on standby, and 25 courtrooms and 150 judges have been arranged to expedite any legal proceedings.