‘If You Come Illegally…’: UK PM Rishi Sunak Unveils New Law To Stop Illegal Migrants
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New Delhi: Amid an outcry from human rights campaigners, the UK government on Tuesday unveiled a new plan to stop migrants from crossing the Channel illegally on small boats.
“If you come here illegally, you can’t claim asylum. You can’t benefit from our modern slavery protections. You can’t make spurious human rights claims and you can’t stay,” Rishi Sunak said in a tweet.
“We will detain those who come here illegally and then remove them in weeks, either to their own country if it is safe to do so. Or to a Safe Third Country like Rwanda and once you are removed, you will be banned as you are in America and Australia from ever re-entering our country,” he added.
If you come to the UK illegally:
➡️ You can’t claim asylum
➡️ You can’t benefit from our modern slavery protections
➡️ You can’t make spurious human rights claims
➡️ You can’t stay pic.twitter.com/026oSvKoJZ
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) March 7, 2023
While announcing the new Illegal Migration Bill in the House of Commons, Britain’s Indian-origin Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, said, “They will not stop coming here until the world knows that if you enter Britain illegally you will be detained and swiftly removed back to your country, if it is safe, or a safe third country such as Rwanda.”
“And that is precisely what this bill will do. That is how we will stop the boats,” she said.
“For a government not to respond to waves of illegal migrants breaching our borders would be to betray the will of the people we were elected to serve,” she added.
Braverman further stated, “Now, the United Kingdom must always support the world’s most vulnerable. Since 2015, we have given sanctuary to nearly half a million people. These include 150,000 people from Hong Kong, 160,000 people from Ukraine, 25,000 Afghans fleeing the Taliban.”
Under the new law, it will be her duty as Home Secretary “to remove” those entering the UK via illegal routes. This will take legal precedence over someone’s right to claim asylum – although there will be exemptions for under-18s, those with serious medical conditions, and some “at real risk of serious and irreversible harm,” according to PTI.
The bill allows for the detention of illegal arrivals without bail or judicial review within the first 28 days of detention, until they can be removed.
Refugee charities and human rights groups have warned of the legal implications for vulnerable asylum seekers.
“Of course, the UK will always seek to uphold international law and I am confident that this bill is compatible with international obligations,” Braverman insisted in the Commons.
(With inputs from PTI)
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