UK: The cost of deporting each asylum seeker to Rwanda is £169,000

The UK government on Monday, in its first detailed assessment regarding the unprecedented number of asylum seekers arriving in the country by small boats, stated that the average cost of deporting each asylum seeker to Rwanda is about £169,000 ($215,000). Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government had agreed last year with Rwanda, located over 6,000 kilometers away, to deport thousands of migrants to this country. Sunak's government considers this plan essential to prevent the entry of asylum seekers who arrive mainly from France by small boats. Under pressure from some of his Conservative lawmakers and public opinion, Sunak has made tackling the wave of asylum seekers one of his five priorities. Suella Braverman, the UK Home Secretary, stated that these costs should be considered alongside the deterrent costs for others trying to reach the UK and the rising costs of housing asylum seekers. She mentioned that if no action is taken, the cost of housing asylum seekers will rise to £11 billion a year, which is currently about £3.6 billion. On Thursday, the Court of Appeal will issue its ruling on the legality of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda. The first scheduled flight to Rwanda was blocked at the last minute in June of last year by a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights. According to this ruling, the UK could not deport asylum seekers before necessary legal actions were taken. In December of last year, the High Court in London declared this policy legal, but this decision has been challenged by asylum seekers from countries including Syria, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, and Vietnam, as well as some human rights organizations. Last year, 45,000 people arrived in the UK by small boats across the English Channel. So far this year, over 11,000 have entered the UK via this route. Nine people have been arrested in connection with the capsizing of a boat carrying asylum seekers; hundreds are still missing. Cooperation between France and Germany to address the rising trend of migration from Tunisia continues. The search for a sunken vessel carrying hundreds of asylum seekers in the Mediterranean Sea is ongoing.