International UK passes bill to send illegal migrants to poverty stricken Rwanda

[TheMaster]

MSN

"Plans are in place. And these flights will go, come what may," he said, adding he wanted to create "a drumbeat of multiple flights a month... because that's how you build a systematic deterrent and that's how you'll stop the boats".

So illegal immigrants will be sent from here



To here




Should be a deterrent no doubt

 

[Chad R. Thundercock]

Every country has a right to enforce its borders. It doesn't matter whether they're first world or third world.

 

[Fox by the Sea]

I hope we will get something similar in the EU as well to get all the trash out.

 

[Culombo]

well that came out of nowhere .. kind of unbelievable .. but if true, well done

 

[A Very Serious Cat]

Now let's see if they actually follow through sending people there

 

[Ichibanner]

To little, too late. The time has long passed for strong borders and the will to enforce immigration law. Decades of problems from massive illegal immigration can't be corrected with plane tickets.

Neat gesture if they actually go through with it though.

 

[ICHEERTHEBULL]

well that came out of nowhere .. kind of unbelievable .. but if true, well done

Not sure if you’re being sarcastic but they have been trying to do this for years but it has been blocked by the courts and the House of Lords. I have no doubt it will be blocked by the courts again.

They should also pass a law requiring the foreign billionaire wives of their prime ministers to pay their taxes but that’s probably a step too far

 

[TheMaster]

Every country has a right to enforce its borders. It doesn't matter whether they're first world or third world.

There is also the issue of the ethics of sending people away to extremely poor nations

 

[Prutfis]

Europe cant be africas welfare office. Something has to be done

 

[Teppodama]

There is also the issue of the ethics of sending people away to extremely poor nations

Compared to the ethics of allowing near unchecked immigration to one's nation at the expense of the citizens of the nation in term of security and expenditure of resources to deal with the influx once there.

If you can't take care of your citizen's needs first its the height of arrogance to believe you can take care of the needs of practically any foreign nation's citizens and it should be considered a treasonous action to put foreign national concerns above your own people. At the very least a history of showing such should be cause for removal from office. It shows your priorities are flawed to hold your position. You are a servant of your nation's people, not the world's.

 

[ObsoleteSoul]

Don't want to go to Rwanda? Do not go thousands of miles away to England first. Seems an easy way not to go to Rwanda...

 

[Ruke Doufus]

There is also the issue of the ethics of sending people away to extremely poor nations

I heard that illegal immigrants are usually highly skilled and educated workers which will no doubt enrich any country they end up in. Seems like a net positive for Rwanda to receive so many doctors and skilled workers.

 

[AbominableJoman]

Hopefully the USA will also do this.

 

[nostradumbass]

Well since the refugees are all surgeons and astronauts, this should really boost Rwanda's space program and medical care.

 

[LeonardoBjj]

‘Forced’ move: Rwandans grapple with own fears over UK asylum seeker plan​

Amid high unemployment and a housing crisis, many in Rwanda are apprehensive about the $272m UK migrant deal criticised by rights groups.

By Andrei Popoviciu
Published On 23 Apr 202423 Apr 2024

Kigali, Rwanda – Lush hills draped in verdure belie the controversies surrounding two locations in Kigali that may soon host hundreds of people who had no plans of ever living in Rwanda.

In northern Kigali, Hope Hostel sits on a hill overlooking the capital.

Across town in the southwest sits the Bwiza Riverside Estate, where manicured greenspaces, fences and small plots of land paint a picture of a quaint neighbourhood – one that, despite its suburban charm, also feels sterile and artificial.

Rwanda’s government has earmarked the two sites to host asylum seekers expected to be sent from the United Kingdom as part of a 220-million-pound ($272m) deal to relocate refugees landing on British shores to the East African country.

After months of wrangling and concerns over the human rights implications of the deal, the UK’s parliament passed the bill late on Monday.

It is expected to become law soon despite a cascade of issues regarding the plan’s feasibility, cost and legality and continued criticism from refugee rights activists.

Hope Hostel is one of the proposed locations where asylum seekers from the UK would be housed in Rwanda [Andrei Popoviciu/Al Jazeera]

Known locations​

The Hope Hostel neighbourhood on the outskirts of Kigali bustles with street sellers, moto taxis and imposing villas.

According to its managing director, Ismael Bakina, the hostel has 50 double rooms, which can host up to 100 guests.

Initially, the hostel had a different purpose. Until two years ago, it housed survivors of the 1994 genocide, which killed almost a million people, mostly minority ethnic Tutsis. But after former UK Home Secretary Priti Patel visited the premises on a tightly controlled tour in 2022, the survivors were evacuated without housing alternatives.

For now, the hostel sits empty, awaiting the political process in the UK to reach a conclusion. Bakina told Al Jazeera it is ready to receive asylum seekers as soon as the first flights take off.

In the surrounding neighbourhood, Rwandans were hesitant to speak to Al Jazeera about the deal. Rights groups have often criticised Rwanda for its repressive political environment and restrictions of freedoms of expression. Journalists, opposition figures and activists have also been jailed or disappeared after criticising the government. Residents who did share their views did so anonymously, and some offered a more neutral take.

One 35-year-old woman named Dativ told Al Jazeera the plan sounded like a great idea because money would come into Rwanda and asylum seekers would bring more employees into the service sector. Rwanda’s economy mainly relies on services, tourism and agriculture.

A 45-year-old man who works as a taxi driver in the same neighbourhood and who refused to give his name, said it could go both ways: Rwandans could have more work but the relocated asylum seekers could also be competing with locals for job opportunities.

A Rwandan government spokesperson said asylum seekers from the UK would receive training and be introduced to the job market.

But Rwandans face an employment crisis with 15 percent of the labour force unemployed in 2023, according to the World Bank, and the youth unemployment rate was even higher at more than 20 percent.

These worries are shared on the condition of anonymity by some citizens. The asylum seekers “went to the UK to look for a better life, not to get tickets to come here”, one Kigali resident, a middle-aged man in a suit, told Al Jazeera.

“Will the government give them jobs or something to do here? They didn’t go [to the UK] for fun, so do you think when they come they will have the same life here they would have had there?”

Unemployment and housing crisis​

The UK has provided Rwanda with an initial 220 million pounds ($272m) to take in asylum seekers for five years and has committed 370 million pounds ($456m) over the next five years, regardless of how many people are sent to Rwanda. But when the law passes, each asylum seeker would cost UK taxpayers about 1.8 million pounds ($2.2m), according to the UK auditor.

“We won’t be able to give them jobs. They’ll have money from the UK, but after that finishes, what happens?” Frank Habinenza, head of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and the only opposition politician elected to parliament, told Al Jazeera.

“We are a small economy with high unemployment and few jobs,” added the aspiring candidate in July’s presidential election.

Kigali has more than 1.2 million inhabitants and its population is increasing while Rwanda has one of the highest population densities in sub-Saharan Africa.


More than half the country’s estimated 13 million people live on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank.

As Kigali’s population expands, housing demand is also escalating, and the government’s decision to repurpose spaces for asylum seekers has ignited a maelstrom of opinions behind closed doors.

Thousands of people were left homeless after the government demolished informal housing in Kigali in 2019, offering only about $100 per person for temporary relocation to those who owned the property they were occupying at the time of the demolition.

Kigali’s administration estimates that 60 percent of the population live in informal settlements that are subject to natural risks induced by climate change while only 9 percent of Rwandans can afford the cheapest houses on the market. The average monthly income per household is about $100.

The shortage of affordable housing is set to double by 2050 as the city’s population increases and the government fails to achieve its housing development goals.

Full read :

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/...ple-with-own-fears-over-uk-asylum-seeker-plan

 

[Dalarna3]

Hotel Rwanda?

 

[IDGETKTFO]

Hopefully the USA will also do this.

Not under Biden or Trump, thats for sure. We need a politician purge.

 

[Siver!]

Honestly, one of the most embarrassing 'stunts' during my lifetime, this.

Utterly, utterly ridiculous.

If you sat down with some dimwitted kids and said "immigration is a problem, what should we do", "send them to Timbuktu (Mali, I know)" is the kind of response you'd expect. This is actual policy, though, created by real politicians who know for a fact it's nonsense.

This scheme has already cost £290 million. It has another £100 million allocated to it for 2 years.

The Rwanda scheme will remove no more than 5,000 people per year, and there is literally nothing stopping them just travelling round and having another go...

Fucking.

Retarded.

I know the supposed 'cruelty' will appeal to some, I don't even consider it that cruel. It's just moronic. Just put up a £300 million "please don't come here" jewel-encrusted sign, it will be equally effective and nearly £100 million cheaper.

 

[Kingz]

I thought the Supreme Court struck the Rwanda plan down?

Oh well, Rwanda is probably pretty stoked to be getting all those doctors and engineers

 

[Scheme]

Not sure if you’re being sarcastic but they have been trying to do this for years but it has been blocked by the courts and the House of Lords. I have no doubt it will be blocked by the courts again.

They should also pass a law requiring the foreign billionaire wives of their prime ministers to pay their taxes but that’s probably a step too far

To me it sounds like they choose to push this ridiculous plan so that it can look like they are doing something (even though that something is completely idiotic) while knowing that it will never be done.