Disputed UK Government Plan to Deport Migrants Postponed

(Patria) - The adoption of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's controversial law on deporting refugees arriving by small boats across the English Channel to Rwanda could be postponed until at least next month, as the upper house has again raised demands for greater protection.

The government wants to deport thousands of illegal migrants who arrive in Great Britain every year to Rwanda, but legal challenges have so far prevented anyone from being sent to the East African country.

The Rwanda scheme is designed to deter migrants from making the dangerous journey across the English Channel and to break up human trafficking networks.

The law is crucial to Sunak's promise to stop migrant arrivals, and he hopes deportation flights will turn around the fortunes of his Conservative Party, which is significantly trailing Labour in the polls as elections approach.

The bill now returns to the lower house of parliament, and an attempt will be made to find common ground between the lower and upper houses of parliament.

Due to parliamentary procedure, the law likely cannot come into effect before mid-April, when the parliamentary Easter recess ends.

The first deportation flights to Rwanda are also being postponed, as it will take about a month to organize the first flights after the law comes into effect.

The government suffered a setback in its plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda last year when the UK Supreme Court ruled the policy unlawful because there was a risk that people sent there could be returned to their country of origin, thereby endangering their safety.