Germany considers sending migrants to Rwanda after UK ditches own plan

5 September 2024, 22:46 | Updated: 6 September 2024, 09:04

Germany is considering sending asylum seekers to Rwanda - weeks after the UK ditched its own plan.

People deported from Germany could be sent to the same accommodation originally intended for the UK's now-abandoned deportation scheme, migration minister Joachim Stamp suggested.

However, the German Ambassador to the UK, Miguel Berger, said the asylum seekers would only be sent to the African nation for processing.

German politicians are under pressure to tackle illegal migration after three people were killed by a Syrian national at a festival in Solingen - an attack for which Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

In addition, a far-right party has won a regional election in Germany for the first time since the Second World War.

The threat of deportation to Kigali, introduced by the last Conservative government, was intended to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats.

But the new Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the plan as soon as his party came to power in early July.

Mr Stamp said Rwanda was willing to continue pursuing the idea with Germany.

"We currently have no third country that has come forward, with the exception of Rwanda," he told a podcast by Table Media.

But posting on X, Mr Berger said: "Let's be clear, there is no plan of the German government to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.

"The discussion is about processing asylum applications in third countries under international humanitarian law and with support of the United Nations."

Those most likely to be processed in the African country are people crossing the EU's eastern borders.

"My suggestion would be that we concentrate on this group - it's about 10,000 people a year," Mr Stamp said.

UK Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle warned Germany against copying the Conservative deportation scheme, telling Sky News the scheme "wasn't workable".

She added: "It was a gimmick. The last government spent £700m to get four people to voluntarily go to Rwanda. And they were gearing up to spend literally billions more... it simply wasn't working.

"I think the German people will have to decide what to do, but my warning to them would be that the Rwanda scheme was an expensive gimmick and it won't work."

Rishi Sunak's government faced a series of legal challenges to its Rwanda scheme, and not a single flight took off.

But former immigration minister and the current frontrunner in the Tory leadership race Robert Jenrick said the fact Germany was in a position to pick up where the UK left off was a "farce", with Labour "wasting" all the money that had already been spent.

Accusing the government of "surrendering to the smuggling gangs" and promising to reinstate the plan if he was to get into office, Mr Jenrick told Sky News: "The British government created a scheme in Rwanda which is admired by other countries around the world... [and] this new Labour government have scrapped the scheme instead of strengthening it, as I wanted, so that it was the most robust deterrent.

"Countries like Germany [are] clearly are more determined to tackle this issue than this Labour government, who seem as if they want open borders in the UK."

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Regarding the German proposal, a Downing Street spokesperson said they would not comment on discussions between other nations.

"Policies pursued by other countries are a matter for them. Our position with regard to Rwanda is well known," they added.

Mr Stamp said asylum procedures in Rwanda would be conducted under the supervision of the United Nations.

He has also suggested removing the so-called "connecting element" in the new Common European Asylum System, which currently requires external asylum procedures to be conducted in countries where the asylum seeker has a social connection.

In December, the European Union agreed on new rules to handle the irregular arrivals of asylum seekers and migrants.

But it could be the end of 2025 before it takes effect in full.

(c) Sky News 2024: Germany considers sending migrants to Rwanda after UK ditches own plan