The figures come days after a plan to deter migrants arriving in small boats from northern Europe was signed into law after months of wrangling in parliament.
Rwanda has agreed “in principle” to take in 5,700 migrants already in the UK, the Home Office revealed on Monday evening. Of those, 2,143 “may be detained” before being flown there, she said.
The rest will be found by law enforcement, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said Tuesday when asked about the 5,700 migrants slated for deportation.
“We hope to deport that group of people … by the end of the year,” she told Sky News. “If someone doesn’t report as they should … they will be found.”
Migrants who arrived in the UK between January 2022 and June last year could be deemed inadmissible and sent back to Rwanda, the Home Office has said.
According to official statistics, more than 57,000 people entered the country by boat and boat crossing the English Channel during this 18-month period. The figure shows the scale of the challenge in trying to stop illegal arrivals and the limited scope of the government’s controversial plan to deport some of them to Rwanda.
Under the scheme, which will cost the UK taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds, their asylum claims will be processed in Kigali. If their applications are successful, they will be allowed to stay in Rwanda and will not return to the UK.
Rwanda, a country in the Great Lakes region of Africa with a population of 13 million. people, is considered one of the most stable countries on the continent and is praised for its modern infrastructure.
But human rights groups accuse long-time President Paul Kagame of creating an atmosphere of fear in the country and ruling by suppressing opposition and freedom of expression.
