Mehmet Solmaz
18 July 2023•Update: 18 July 2023
BIRMINGHAM, England
The British government’s highly contested Illegal Migration Bill is set to become law after the government saw off amendment attempts in the House of Lords on Monday night.
The bill, which aims to send asylum seekers arriving in the UK by small boats to Rwanda, was stuck in a battle between the House of Commons and the House of Lords, which tried to give more protection to the migrants under modern slavery laws.
The bill will now go for royal assent and become law. Under the bill, the home secretary has a legal duty to detain and remove anyone entering the UK illegally.
The legislation places a legal duty on the government to detain and send illegal arrivals either to Rwanda or another "safe" third country. But there are no similar return deals with any other countries yet.
The Rwanda plan was ruled unlawful by the Court of Appeal last month, although the government is challenging the judgment.
During the Lords debate, Home Office Minister Lord Murray of Blidworth said the boat arrivals had "overwhelmed" the UK's asylum system and that accommodation was costing taxpayers £6 million ($7.8 million) per day.
More than 44,000 migrants arrived in the UK through the English Channel last year.
The UK paid Rwanda €120 million ($146 million) upfront to facilitate the implementation of the five-year agreement which the British government hopes could help deter migrants from making the risky journey across the English Channel on small boats.
While the government was fighting off the latest challenge from the House of Lords on Monday, a crowd gather outside the parliament to raise their opposition to the bill, claiming it ignores human rights. The protest was co-organized by the Stop Racism platform, the National Education Union, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union and the Care 4 Calais platform.
