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UK government's first flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda grounded
The first plane that was scheduled to take off late Tuesday (June 14) from the UK to take asylum seekers to Rwanda in a controversial scheme has been cancelled.
The cancellation came after a last-minute intervention by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the cases of a number of asylum seekers scheduled to be on the flight.
The plane had been waiting on the tarmac at airbase in Boscombe Down in Amesbury for most of the day, and did not take off for Kigali as scheduled.
According to Sky News, a Home Office official is quoted to have confirmed the cancellation.
The flight, as of Tuesday morning, was to take seven asylum seekers to Rwanda, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss earlier today said it would go ahead even with a small number of passengers.
Truss described the now-grounded flight as a "key part of our strategy for tackling the appalling people smugglers who are trading in people's hopes and dreams."
UK Court of Appeal says flight to take migrants to Rwanda can go ahead
The plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda while their applications are processed has been criticized widely by many international organizations, pro-refugee NGOs and human rights groups, the Anadolu Agency reported.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said the government "will not be deterred from doing the right thing and delivering our plans to control our nation's borders" after the first flight was stopped.
She said: "I have always said this policy will not be easy to deliver and am disappointed that a legal challenge and last-minute claims have meant today's flight was unable to depart.”
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Patel said she was surprised that the ECHR has intervened and "these repeated legal barriers are similar to those we experience with other removals flights and many of those removed from this flight will be placed on the next."
"We will not be deterred from doing the right thing and delivering our plans to control our nation's borders. Our legal team is reviewing every decision made on this flight and preparation for the next flight begins now."
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