UK to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda

Britain will send migrants and asylum-seekers who cross the Channel thousands of miles away to Rwanda under a controversial deal announced Thursday as the government tries to clamp down on record numbers of people making the perilous journey. "From today... anyone entering the UK illegally as well as those who have arrived illegally since January 1 may now be relocated to Rwanda," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a speech near Dover in southeastern England. "Rwanda will have the capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead," Johnson said. He called the East African nation with a sketchy human rights record "one of the safest countries in the world, globally recognised for its record of welcoming and integrating migrants." More than 28,000 people arrived in Britain having crossed the Channel from France in small boats in 2021. The Rwanda plan swiftly drew the ire of opposition politicians who accused Johnson of trying to distract from his fine for breaking coronavirus lockdown rules, while rights groups slammed the project as "inhumane". The United Nations' refugee agency voiced its strong opposition.