The British authorities have taken away smartphones from migrants who have been detained for removal to Rwanda to prevent them from contacting charities or law firms that could help them challenge their detention, The Telegraph reported on Sunday.
Last week, the British government announced it had launched a series of nationwide raids to track down illegal immigrants ahead of the first deportation flights scheduled for July, under a controversial immigration policy promoted by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
More than 2,200 detention spaces have been prepared to house those who will be taken into custody as part of the operation, the Home Office said in a statement.
On Sunday, The Telegraph claimed the migrants at seven of the holding centers have been given phones without cameras and are unable to access the internet as part of the rules imposed. It cited the Home Office as saying the move is a “safety and security” measure.
The detentions follow the passage of the Safety of Rwanda Bill by the UK Parliament last month, paving the way for the start of deportation flights.
The legislation aims to block court challenges that have stalled the enforcement of an initial agreement between London and Kigali to send asylum seekers who entered the UK illegally to the East African nation for claim processing. The five-year agreement reached in April 2022 was stymied by an intervention from the European Court of Human Rights, which halted the first deportation flight two months later. Last November, the UK Supreme Court also ruled the scheme illegal, declaring Rwanda an unsafe third country for refugee relocation.
Sunak’s Conservative government, which has committed to “stopping the boats” since taking office in 2022, has insisted the Rwandan scheme will address the influx of illegal immigrants entering the English Channel. According to recent government figures, more than 7,000 people arrived on ‘small boats’ in the first four months of this year, an increase of more than 1,400 since the same January-April period last year.
More than 120 potential deportees have so far reportedly contacted some of the several charity organizations in the UK that are against their detention and removal to assist them with immigration lawyers to oppose the scheme.
Asylum Aid, which works with some of the most vulnerable refugees in the UK, has warned the Home Office that it will take legal action to challenge the policy, which it claims is causing widespread fear and distress among migrants.
An estimated 52,000 asylum seekers in the UK are reportedly eligible to be sent to Rwanda under the deportation scheme. However, Kigali’s spokesperson, Yolande Makolo, said on Sunday that the country cannot guarantee how many people it can host.
“We will be able to welcome the migrants that the UK sends over the lifetime of this partnership. What I cannot tell you is how many thousands we are taking in the first year or the second year,” the official said on the BBC’s ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’.