The British government confirmed on Tuesday that London’s contentious proposal to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda will cost roughly 200,000 euros per individual.
Controlling legal and illegal immigration, which was already a Brexit pledge, is one of the Tory government’s top concerns. He specifically vowed to halt the arrival of tiny boats carrying asylum seekers via the English Channel.
More over 45,000 migrants, a record, crossed this border to enter the United Kingdom in 2022. This year, they have already outnumbered 11,700 people.
The government wants to be able to transfer illegally arrived migrants to third countries like Rwanda, to deter them from coming to the UK. This project is currently being debated in Parliament.
According to estimates by the Ministry of the Interior, the government could spend 169,000 pounds sterling (196,470 euros) for each migrant sent to Rwanda. This includes a payment of £105,000 (€122,120) to the third country, as well as airfare and administrative costs.
But the ministry estimates that over four years, it could save 106,000 pounds sterling (123,290 euros) for each asylum seeker, in particular by saving accommodation costs . Two out of five migrants would have to be deterred from crossing the Channel for the project to be profitable, according to these data.
These figures, which the Interior Ministry says are “very uncertain” , have revived criticism of the government’s plan.
“If passed in its current form, the bill would prevent tens of thousands of refugees from accessing the protection to which they are entitled under international law ,” criticized Enver Solomon, director of the organization Refugee Council .
“It would cost billions of pounds and would do nothing to solve the current” crisis in the asylum system, he added.
The plan to send migrants to Rwanda was announced last year by Boris Johnson , when he was prime minister. But it had been blocked at the last minute by a decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
It is still blocked by legal action. Judges must also render a decision Thursday on a new appeal.
