UK government passed illegal immigration bill, UN said against international law

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s highly controversial plan to make it easier to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is about to become law. The Illegal Migration Bill was mired in a battle between Parliament’s House of Commons and Britain’s unelected upper house, the House of Lords, which repeatedly made changes to the law to weaken it. The last of those proposed changes was voted on in the early hours. It can now go to royal assent, where it is formally approved by the king and becomes law.

The plan to deport asylum seekers has been criticized by some opposition politicians, lawyers and civil rights groups as inhumane, cruel and ineffective. UN human rights chief Volker Turk said Tuesday that the bill’s passage raises very serious legal concerns and sets a worrying precedent for scrapping asylum obligations that other countries could follow. However, deportation flights to Rwanda are unlikely to start until next year and will still depend on the Supreme Court’s decision on their legality later this year.

The new law is at the heart of the government’s pledge to stop asylum seekers making the perilous border crossing from France to the south coast of England on small, often seaworthy boats. It would prevent most people from claiming asylum in the UK without permission and send them either to their country of origin or to a so-called safe country like Rwanda.