Under the new legislation, Channel migrants will be deported from the United Kingdom, prohibited from future re-entry, and unable to petition for British citizenship.
The proposed measures will apply to all small-boat arrivals to British shores.
Further details are anticipated to be announced by the government on Tuesday.
The Refugee Council says thousands will be “permanently in limbo” as a result.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has made “stopping the boats” a top priority, told, “Make no mistake. If you come here unlawfully, you will not be allowed to stay.”
The new law would require the home minister to remove anyone arriving on a small boat to Rwanda or a “safe” third country “as soon as is practicable” and prohibit their permanent return.
Asylum seekers in the UK can seek protection under the UN Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights.
The government has tried to reduce the number of asylum seekers making the dangerous trip from France to the UK.
However, it is not clear how precisely the government is proposing to limit the rights of asylum seekers.
Neither is the promise to deport asylum seekers simple.
Despite a deal last year, no migrants have been sent to Rwanda, and plans to do so are on halt. In addition, there is no return agreement in place with the EU.
The Rwanda plan has not yet been implemented due to intense opposition from activists and legal interventions.
However, the High Court ruled in December that the scheme did not violate the UN’s Refugee Convention. This decision is confronting additional legal challenges, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Monday at the Court of Appeal.
The Refugee Council has accused ministers of violating the United Kingdom’s longstanding commitment under the UN Convention to provide individuals with a fair hearing regardless of how they arrive in the country.
The group’s CEO Enver Solomon said the “flawed” legislation would not stop the boats but result in tens of thousands of people locked up in detention at enormous cost, permanently in limbo, and treated as criminals simply for seeking refuge.
“It’s unworkable, costly, and won’t halt the boats,” he said.
Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary who will introduce the new regulations, told the Sun on Sunday that “the only route to the United Kingdom will be a safe and legal route.”
According to the Home Office, there are numerous “secure and legal” routes to the United Kingdom. However, some are limited to citizens of certain nations, such as Afghanistan and Ukraine, or British National status holders in Hong Kong.
Other asylum routes only admit a limited number of refugees based on strict criteria.
The government’s Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris stated on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg program that new legislation would only be one part of the UK’s response, adding, “We need a full range of things in our arsenal to try and stop both people trafficking and illegal migration across the Channel.”
Labour’s Wes Streeting said the government’s forthcoming measures were “just the latest in a long line for unworkable gimmicks”.
The shadow health secretary stated that the government should instead ensure asylum seekers have safe entry into the country, expedite the processing of asylum claims, and clamp down on trafficking gangs.
“We’ve put forward our proposals – taking the hundreds of millions of pounds that would be squandered on the Rwanda scheme, put it into the National Crime Agency so that we can start rounding up and arresting the criminal gangs that are trafficking people,” he told.
Ms. Streeting expressed skepticism that the proposed measures would “see the light of day” or pass through Parliament.
Lord Blunkett, Labour’s home secretary from 2001 to 2004, stated that any new migration policy required France’s support. Which the government knew it would not receive.
He said, “They know they can’t do it before the election, even if it would succeed, and it won’t.
“They’re doing it to put the Labour party on the spot and send a message that, after 13 years. They’re going to take control of a problem they’ve created.”
The Liberal Democrats deemed the proposed measures “immoral, ineffective, and immensely expensive for taxpayers while doing nothing to prevent small boat crossings.”
Freedom from Torture, an organization that provides asylum applicants with therapy, described them as “vengeful and dysfunctional.”
The government has previously stated that the Rwanda proposal would deter others from crossing the English Channel. But there is no evidence to support this claim.
This is the highest figure since records began in 2018.
2,953 migrants from Albania, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria have passed the English Channel this year.
