Asylum seekers jailed in Rwanda could be sent back to UK under deal, minister admits

Rwanda will be able to send asylum seekers who have committed a crime back to the UK under the terms of a new treaty, a minister has admitted.

Policing minister Chris Philp said the conditions of the deal mean that those convicted of a serious offence – who had previously been sent from the UK to Rwanda under the government’s plan to tackle immigration – could be sent back to the UK after they have served their sentence.

Mr Philp told Sky News a provision in the treaty that “respects items in Rwandan law” means a “small number might be eligible to return to the UK”.

But he said those who could be returned to the UK “are all people that would have been in the UK anyway, because by definition they’ve come to the UK, then we’ve sent them to Rwanda”.

“So it will be people that, absent this deal, would have been here anyway.”

Yesterday, Home Secretary James Cleverly visited Kigali to sign the new treaty in a bid to revive the government’s stalled plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

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Under the Rwanda plan, people who arrive in the UK by unauthorised means, including in many cases by small boat across the Channel, would be sent to the African country while their asylum claim is processed.

On arrival in Rwanda, people could be granted refugee status and allowed to stay, or apply for sanctuary in another “safe third country”.

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The policy has formed a core part of the UK government’s strategy to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel in the hope it will act as a deterrent.

However, the government was forced to sign a new treaty after the Supreme Court ruled the policy was “unlawful” because there was a chance people sent to Rwanda could be sent on to another country where they were at risk of persecution under a process known as “refoulement”, in what would be a breach of international law.

After signing the new treaty, Mr Cleverly told a press conference he felt “very strongly” that the deal “addresses all the issues raised by the Supreme Court”.

Under the deal, Rwanda has agreed to only send people back to the UK under certain circumstances, including in the event that someone wins a legal appeal against the UK government over their deportation.

A new appeals process will also take place in Rwanda, while the UK will also be asked to resettle “a portion” of Rwanda’s “most vulnerable” refugees.

It was also revealed that people who have committed a crime and have been sentenced to more than five years in prison could be sent to the UK as Rwandan law requires them to be removed.

Asked what would happen to any offenders once they come back to the UK, Mr Philp said: “Well we will then look at whether we can return them safely to their country of origin, for example, which we do with anyone who is not conducive to the public good under the 1971 Immigration Act.”

As well as signing the new treaty, the government is also preparing emergency legislation which Rishi Sunak has said will “enable parliament to confirm that with our new treaty, Rwanda is safe”.

Mr Philp said the legislation was being “finalised at the moment” and it would take “days, not weeks” to be introduced in parliament.

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