Migrants trying to enter UK illegally from France say threat of being flown to ... trends now
People planning to cross the Channel in small boats and enter Britain illegally from France have insisted they will not be put off by the threat of being flown to Rwanda.
Rishi Sunak is preparing to try to force the Rwanda plan through Parliament - warning he is ready to make MPs and peers sit through the night to finally make a breakthrough on new laws.
The showdown comes after the House of Lords again refused to back down last week, passing more amendments to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill despite MPs repeatedly dismissing their objections.
Yet would-be asylum seekers camping out in Dunkirk, in the north of France, today insisted they would keep coming back even if sent to Rwanda whose government has negotiated a multi-million-pound deal with Britain to process claims.
Their defiance came as former Home Secretary Suella Braverman also warned the bill was not strong enough to be an effective deterrent.
People at a migrant camp in Dunkirk, northern France, have insisted today the threat of being put on flights to Rwanda to have their asylum applications processed would not put them off
Rishi Sunak is preparing to make MPs and peers sit through the night to break an impasse over legislation to approve his government's Rwanda bill aimed at stopping small boat crossings
One migrant from Africa at a camp in Dunkirk told BBC Breakfast: 'My neighbouring country is Rwanda, so if I knew Rwanda was a safe country then I would've gone there because they're my neighbours.
'Because I know that Rwanda can never be safe for me, that's why I risk myself to come through sea and that's why I'm here.'
Another told how he would try again to get to the UK even if put on a flight to Rwanda, saying: 'Maybe when I will go to Rwanda again - it's difficult. I will come again. I will keep on, the struggle.'
A third said: 'I try my chance - if I was safe or not, if I go to Rwanda or Africa, it's no matter to me. But first I want to go to the UK - it's important.'
Rosie, a 16-year-old from South Sudan, told the programme: 'I'm worried, but nothing I can do - God save us.'
Ms Braverman told ITV's Good Morning Britain she agreed with the principle of the proposed bill but thought the government's approach did not go far enough.
She said: 'I believe the bill is fatally flawed - that's why I took the decision earlier this year to vote against it - I don't believe it's going to provide the deterrent that we need to stop the boats.
'What we need to see is regular flights being sent off to Rwanda with large numbers of illegal migrants on those flights.
'That's how we send a message to the people-smuggling gangs, to those who are seeking to come here illegally, that they won't get a life in the UK by doing so.
One would-be asylum seeker at a camp in Dunkirk, northern France, insisted Rwanda was not a safe country for migrants
He told BBC Breakfast he was willing to take the 'risk' of crossing the Channel to Britain instead
Another vowed to 'keep on' coming to the UK even if put on a flight to Rwanda first
'I do maintain Rwanda is a safe country. The principle of the scheme is something I support - I do believe by getting regular flights off to Rwanda we will stop the boats.
'That's how, largely, the Australians were able to stop their illegal maritime migration problem, by sending people off-shore.
'So I do agree with the principle - what I disagree with is how the government, this government, is going about delivering that scheme.'
She also reiterated her call for Britain to withdraw from the European Court of Human Rights which she blamed for blocking previous Rwanda flights.
She said: 'This is our third bill, this is our third act of Parliament. The government has tried to do this within the confines of the European Convention on Human Rights and it's not worked.
'I believe now the only way to actually ensure that flights can go off, boats can be stopped and we can actually take back control of our borders and laws is to leave the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights.
'We saw in June 2022 how the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg intervened to block the flights from taking off.
'That's an example, one of many examples, of how interventionist this court is - how interventionist and obstructive the European Court of Human Rights is.'
The UK's Supreme Court has deemed Rwanda an unsafe country for sending migrants to, citing government crackdowns on critics and media, a lack of independence among judges and lawyers and high rejections of asylum claims.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman says the proposed bill is not enough of a deterrent
Rish Sunak, speaking last Friday, vowed to force through the Rwanda plans tonight
Mr Sunak is expected to deliver a message to peers this morning that his patience has run out, with his pledge to 'stop the boats' on the line.
In a round of interviews, deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell upped the ante by branding peers' resistance to sending asylum seekers to Rwanda 'patronising' and said such criticisms at times 'border on racism'.
The proposed law aims to send some asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Kigali in order to deter people from crossing the Channel in small boats.
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