ليبيا: «قضايا خلافية» تعترض اجتماع المنفي وصالح وتكالة بالقاهرة
U.K. law could send Ukrainian refugees who enter via Ireland to Rwanda
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the Rwanda plan as part of a crackdown on smuggling routes across the English Channel. Under the plan, which passed into law late last month, most migrants who cross illegally will be deemed inadmissible to claim asylum because their journeys will have taken them through safe countries before their arrival in Britain.
Some conservative lawmakers worry Ireland’s decision to lift visa requirements for Ukrainians after the Russian invasion could create another entryway for those who don’t meet British security checks or who are awaiting British visas. Ireland has an open-border arrangement with Britain.
During a select committee hearing on Wednesday, Dan Hobbs, the British Home Office’s director of asylum, protection and enforcement, was asked whether undocumented Ukrainians traveling into Northern Ireland from Ireland would fall within the scope of the Rwanda plan, to which he responded: “Depending on the individual circumstances, they may not fall in the ‘inadmissibility’ criteria.”
“You are leaving open the possibility that Ukrainians who have crossed from Dublin to Belfast could conceivably end up in Rwanda,” said Stuart C. McDonald, the Scottish National Party member of Parliament who posed the question.
British officials have said all inadmissible adults who arrived since Jan. 1 could be sent to Rwanda on chartered jets, The Washington Post previously reported. Britain will not send children or unaccompanied minors, nor will officials break up families with children.
A British government minister declined to respond to repeated questions about whether Ukrainians who crossed the English Channel by boat could also be sent to the African country.
“There is absolutely no reason why any Ukrainian should be getting in a small boat and paying a people smuggler to get into the U.K.,” the minister, Tom Pursglove, told the select committee.
“People should be using the safe and legal routes if they are coming from Ukraine,” he added, noting that Britain has issued nearly 95,000 visas to Ukrainians so far.
William Booth in London contributed to this report.