LONDON — Britain’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda to have their claims processed is unlawful, the Court of Appeal ruled Thursday, in a major blow to Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
Britain announced a multimillion-pound deal with Rwanda in spring 2022, and has vowed to deport people it deems have made “dangerous, unnecessary and illegal journeys” to the U.K. to the Central African nation.
The High Court last year dismissed several bids to halt the government’s plan, but a number of asylum seekers and the charity Asylum Aid have now succeeded at the Court of Appeal in overturning the finding that Rwanda represents a “safe third country.”
It marks the latest blow for the policy, which is yet to see a single flight take off amid legal challenge.
Braverman, whose boss Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made “stopping the boats” crossing the English Channel a key political priority, will address the House of Commons on the government’s next steps later.
The legal finding is likely to prompt a backlash from Conservative MPs, already angered by an earlier intervention from the European Court of Human Rights halting a planned flight. The case could now face further wrangling in the Supreme Court.
Rwanda ‘fully committed’ to plan
Opponents of the policy have argued that the U.K. government risks sending people seeking refuge to a country that does not protect the rights or lives of political opponents, but the Rwandan government hit back at the Court of Appeal’s ruling Thursday.
Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said that while the finding was “ultimately a decision for the U.K.’s judicial system, we do take issue with the ruling that Rwanda is not a safe country for asylum seekers and refugees.”
“We make a significant contribution to dealing with the impacts of the global migration crisis,” the spokesperson said.
“Rwandans know what it means to be forced to flee home, and to make a new life in a new country. As a society, and as a government, we have built a safe, secure, dignified environment, in which migrants and refugees have equal rights and opportunities as Rwandans. Everyone relocated here under this partnership will benefit from this.”
Rwanda, Makolo said, “remains fully committed to making this partnership work.”
The ruling comes just days after the Home Office’s own legal assessment of the Rwanda plan found it will cost an estimated £169,000 per migrant to deport a person there — some £63,000 more than it would to keep them in the U.K.
The Home Office has pointed to a deterrent effect it believes the plan will have on those seeking to come to the U.K.
This developing story is being updated.