The United Kingdom's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has insisted his government's latest immigration plan will work, as the issue threatened to split his ruling Conservative party.
"This bill will work. We will get flights off the ground," he said on Wednesday, remaining upbeat that the proposal to deport migrants to Rwanda will be successful.
Britain hopes to reduce the number of asylum seekers to below 100,000 every year. In 2022 alone, there were 606,000 net immigrations, the government said.
Over the years, small boats have been carrying refuge seekers into Britain through the English Channel.
Expensive affair
According to the British government, the country spends about $3.8 billion every year on asylum seekers' expenses.
The daily cost of housing them in hotels and their food expenses is $7.6 million, a cost that the government says is too high.
Britain allows application for asylum, a form of protection that enables one to remain in the country without being deported.
On December 5, British interior minister James Cleverly travelled to Rwanda and signed a new deal with the African country, saying the new agreement had addressed issues raised by the courts.
Monitoring committee
Cleverly said there will be a monitoring committee to ensure the asylum seekers' rights are not violated.
The British parliament has been pushing to change the law to grant a government minister the powers to deport asylum seekers without being restricted by the UK's Human Rights Act or the European Court of Human Rights.
On December 6, Britain's Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick resigned, saying the proposed legislation on Rwanda asylum deal was unlikely to succeed.
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