A hostel in Rwanda is reportedly finalizing preparations to accommodate children under the UK's controversial plans to deport asylum seekers to the African nation. Meanwhile, the scheme has attracted further criticism after further details emerged.
The UK government has proposed placing electronic tags on some asylum seekers who arrive by small boat over the Channel. The pilot scheme, says the Prime Minister, will stop them from "vanishing into the rest of the country."
A challenge to the UK's new policy to deter asylum-seeker arrivals was rejected by a High Court judge. The UN says refugees risk "serious, irreperable harm" under the relocation plan.
Two British men have been handed sentences adding up to 14 years in prison for smuggling 31 migrants into the UK, including seven children and a pregnant woman.
The British government announced on Tuesday that the first flights for those seeking asylum in the UK would take off to Rwanda on June 14. Several legal challenges are already underway against the government's plan.
A man thought to be of African origin died when he was hit by a goods train on Sunday morning in Calais, northeast France. He is the fifth migrant to have died in accidents involving trains or lorries in recent months.
As the UK is tightening its asylum policies many migrants are trying to make their way to the country before decisive changes are enacted into law. This week marked a new record of at least 9,000 people arriving on British shores since the beginning of 2022.
Rwanda expects the first group of about 50 asylum seekers to arrive from the United Kingdom by the end of May. The plan to 'offshore' asylum to the East African nation has attracted widespread criticism, forcing Britain to defend its decision before the UN.
Calm seas and warm temperatures on Tuesday provided conditions in which at least 120 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK. More than 600 reportedly made the journey in small boats over the weekend.
The British government has notified 50 newly-arrived asylum seekers that they are to be deported to Rwanda, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said. They reportedly have 14 days to object.
The British government announced on May 10 that it would be informing the first group of migrants destined to be relocated to Rwanda of their fate “this week.”
The UK’s National Crime Agency has arrested a man in east London who they suspect was a "leading figure in an organized crime group supplying significant numbers of small boats to people smugglers."