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7 months ago
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An Iranian asylum seeker living in Britain has warned others to no longer come after he received an email telling him he faces a possible deportation flight to Rwanda.
Masoud was seen on screen receiving a Home Office alert on his mobile phone, after Parliament finally last night passed the government's new law to send illegal entrants to the east African country.
He admitted he would not have entered the UK had he known the Rwanda threat might be there - but other migrants camping across the Channel in Calais told MailOnline they would not be deterred.
Groups of men from the Sudan and Eritrea told how they had spent up to two years to reach the English Channel and would not be put off now.
The contrasting messages came as it was revealed five people including a child are believed to have died in the latest Channel migrant tragedy today.
Masoud, an Iranian asylum seeker living in Derby, was seen on screen receiving an email on his mobile phone from the Home Office saying he could be deported to Rwanda
Eritrean migrants Yamal (left), 20, and 17-year-old Sweb were among those camping in Calais in France intent on crossing the Channel to try to enter the UK
Some 200 men are living in small makeshift camps close to the busy French ferry port
Migrant healthcare worker Alam, 33, from Eritrea told how he felt he had no choice but to continue to try to reach the UK
Masoud, 34, spoke out after being filmed outside a charity centre in Derby where asylum seekers are being offered help and advice.
He received a Home Office letter telling him he was being referred to the government's 'third party' process after evidence suggesting he had previously been in a safe country, namely France, before entering the UK.
When asked by Sky News whether he would have come to Britain had he known he could end up in Rwanda, he replied: 'Never - never.'
And on whether the deportation flights bill could stop other people coming now, he answered: 'Yeah. Yeah. I say to all asylum, don't come to the UK.'
Yet some 200 men are living in small makeshift camps close to the busy French ferry port of Calais as they try to cross the sea to Britain in small boats or in the back of lorries.
Among them were Sudanese teenagers Meshar and Abdi who told MailOnline they had no idea that a new law passed in Parliament last night meant that they could be deported to Rwanda where their claim for asylum would be assessed.
Meshar, 19, from Darfur, said: 'I don't want to go to Rwanda. I want go to England. I left my home in Sudan a year ago because of the war but my journey is not finished.
'I don't care about a new law. I will go to England. England is a good country.'
Abdi, 17, also from Darfur, said he would not stop until he reached England.
Masoud, from Iran, told Sky News he would 'never' have made the trip to the UK had he known he could end up being sent to Rwanda
The Home Office letter received on his phone suggested he had travelled through a safe country on his way to the UK, potentially ruling him out of being considered for asylum
Migrants in Calais in France have described hoping to make small boat crossings to Britain
MailOnline reporter Nick Fagge spoke to migrants Meshar (centre), 19, and 17-year-old Abdi (right) - both of the teenagers from the Darfur region of Sudan
He said: 'I left Sudan a year ago because of the war. I went through the [Sahara] desert to Libya and I took a boat to Italy. It was very difficult. People died.
'I do not know about a new law but I don't care. I don't want to go to Rwanda. I will go to England. England is a safe country. I want to stay in England.'
Migrants from Eritrea told how they had spent up to two years to get to the English Channel and they would not change their plans now.
Sweb, 17, said: 'I left Eritrea two years ago. I travelled through many countries. It was a difficult journey. But I will go to England.
'I don't want to go to Rwanda. I want to go to England. I don't know about a new law. But I am going to England. Nothing will stop me.'
Yamal, 20, also from Eritrea, added: 'I want to go to England. I don't want to go to Rwanda. Everyone here has made a decision to go to England. No one wants to go to Rwanda.'
Healthcare worker Alam, 33, from Eritrea, told how he felt he had no choice but to continue to try to reach Britain, despite the new law.
He said: 'I am a healthcare worker, a midwife, I have helped many hundreds of babies come into the world.
'I was living and working in Sudan. But I had to leave a year ago because of the war.
Eritrean healthcare worker Alam said he did not know about the UK government's Rwanda flights plan but it would not deter him from attempting a crossing of the Channel
Groups of men from the Sudan and Eritrea told how they had spent up to two years to reach the English Channel and would not be deterred now
Yamal (left), 20, and 17-year-old Sweb (right), both from Eritrea, were speaking at their camp in Calais in France where many migrants dwell before trying to cross to Britain
'I want to go to England because it is a safe country. I did not know about a new law about sending refugees to Rwanda - but that will not stop me or anyone else.
'We have all had a long journey across the desert to Libya and across the sea to Italy. Now we are so close to England. No one will stop now.'
The claims come after migrants in Dunkirk in northern France also vowed they would keep attempting new Channel crossings even if deported to Rwanda.
One, given the pseudonym Richard by BBC Breakfast which interviewed him, told how he would try again to get to the UK even if put on a flight to Rwanda.
He insisted: 'Maybe when I will go to Rwanda again - it's difficult. I will come again. I will keep on, the struggle.'
Another, named as James, said: '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.'
A third, dubbed Richard by the BBC, 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.'
But in Derby, Masoud's warnings were echoed by another asylum seeker Fahed, 30, who came from Sudan last July and said of his fellow migrants: 'They're thinking too much about Rwanda. They can't even sleep, they're thinking too much.
'Really I'm concerned but I don't have many options - I can't do anything - just have to be patient.
'Rwanda is not a safe country. Before I came here, if they say they'll send me to Rwanda, I'd never come here.'
The government's Rwanda plan was condemned as 'so unfair' by Fatima, 26, who travelled here on a small boat with her sister last June.
People at a migrant camp in Dunkirk, northern France, have insisted the threat of being put on flights to Rwanda to have their asylum applications processed would not put them off
Another migrant at a Dunkirk camp told BBC Breakfast it was 'no matter' to him whether he was deported to Rwanda and how he sees it as 'important' to go to the UK
People camping in Dunkirk, northern France, hoping to try crossing the Channel have described the government's Rwanda flight plans as 'inhumane'
One would-be asylum seeker at a camp in Dunkirk insisted Rwanda was not a safe country
In Derby, Sudanese asylum seeker Fahed, 30, told of his fears of being deported after arriving here last July
She told Sky News: 'I fled my country in order to be safe, otherwise I was going to get killed by the Taliban.'
Hamza, from Iran, who arrived on a small boat in 2022, has also been told there was evidence he had been in France and the Home Office could ask Rwanda if it will admit him.
His wife has already warned him if he is sent to Rwanda he will never see her or their two-year-old child again - the plan had been for them to join him in the UK.
He said: 'I'm very stressed. I don't know what to do. All I can think about is this letter and Rwanda.'
There was tragedy in the early hours of this morning when a small boat carrying more than 110 people set sail from Wimereux in northern France and got into difficulties.
Three men, a woman and a child were killed, according to a French coastguard statement reported by the BBC.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said: 'These tragedies have to stop. I will not accept a status quo which costs so many lives.
'This Government is doing everything we can to end this trade, stop the boats and ultimately break the business model of the evil people smuggling gangs, so they no longer put lives at risk.'
The first asylum seekers are expected to be rounded up and detained within days after a long-running wrangle between the Commons and the Lords finally ended in the early hours of this morning.
The House of Lords had sent back to the Commons the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill five times in attempts to secure changes.
But they relented just after midnight, paving the way for it to become law and allow delayed flights to start in July.
MPs rejected a requirement that Rwanda could not be treated as safe until the secretary of state, having consulted an independent monitoring body, made a statement to Parliament to that effect.
Fatima, 26, described the government's approach as 'so unfair' after coming here on a small boat last June with her sister - fleeing Afghanistan fearing they would be killed by the Taliban
Hamza, from Iran, is also living in Derby but has been told he faces potential deportation to Rwanda - having hoped his wife and two-year-old child would follow him over here
The Prime Minister has said 'nothing will stand in our way' of getting flights off the ground after the Government's Rwanda deportation plan passed through Parliament
BBC footage showed migrants setting off across the Channel from France this morning
They were beginning the journey towards the UK hours after the government's plan to deport people entering the country illegally to Rwanda got through the Commons and the Lords
The Government said the Lords amendment was 'almost identical' to the previous ones overturned by MPs.
In a statement today, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: 'The passing of this landmark legislation is not just a step forward but a fundamental change in the global equation on migration.
'We introduced the Rwanda Bill to deter vulnerable migrants from making perilous crossings and break the business model of the criminal gangs who exploit them.'
Illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson acknowledged this morning the Government was prepared for 'inevitable' legal challenges to the Rwanda scheme.
He told Times Radio: 'It's inevitable. I'm afraid that there will be challenges.
'There are people who don't like this policy - the Labour lords, as we saw last night and the Labour Party, there are people who are determined to do whatever it takes to try and stop this policy from working.'
Earlier in the upper House, the opposition did not press its demand for the Bill to include an exemption from removal for Afghan nationals who assisted British troops.
A Home Office minister said the Government would not send those who are eligible under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) to Rwanda.
The new law aims to clear the way to send asylum seekers who cross the Channel in small boats on a one-way flight to Kigali.
Rwanda's government has negotiated a multi-million-pound deal to process asylum applications by people found to have illegally tried to enter the UK.
Some £290million has already been committed to the Rwanda scheme, with a further £100million earmarked over the next two years.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was spotted leaving Parliament last night as his Rwanda bill was finally passed by the Commons following various blocks by the Lords
More than 100 illegal migrants have already been earmarked for the first wave of Rwanda deportations (file photo)
Migrants picked up at sea trying to cross the Channel from France are seen disembarking from Border Force vessel Defender after arriving in Dover, Kent, on January 17 this year
The Hope Hostel (pictured) in Rwanda's capital Kigali has been lined up to house migrants after they have been deported from the UK
Shown here is the Hope Hostel's reception centre in Kigali - Rishi Sunak has said deportation flights to Rwanda will begin in July
Construction workers are shown shovelling earth on the site of a basketball court being built next to the Hope Hostel in Kigali
The cost of putting each migrant on a plane is expected to reach £11,000, while Rwanda will get £20,000 for each asylum seeker relocated there and a £120 million top-up once 300 have arrived.
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.
The Rwanda Bill and a new treaty are intended to prevent further legal challenges to the stalled asylum scheme - compelling judges to regard the east African country as safe and giving ministers the power to ignore emergency injunctions.
Labour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called the Bill 'an extortionately expensive gimmick rather than a serious plan to tackle dangerous boat crossings'.
She said: 'The Rwanda scheme will cost more than half a billion pounds for just 300 people, less than one per cent of asylum seekers here in the UK - and there is no plan for the 99 per cent.
'Instead of spending £2million per asylum seeker on this failing scheme they should be putting that money into boosting our border security instead - that is Labour's practical plan.'
And the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner Michael O'Flaherty said adopting the Bill 'raises major issues about the human rights of asylum seekers and the rule of law more generally'.
He urged: 'The United Kingdom government should refrain from removing people under the Rwanda policy and reverse the Bill's effective infringement of judicial independence.'
Ministers have been indicating that the RAF would be deployed to run the flights, instead of using a private airline.
There have been reports the Ministry of Defence is preparing to repurpose at least one RAF Voyager plane for deportations, with claims the government has struggled to find a private airline.
Dozens of migrants were seen here crossing the Channel on a small boat on March 6 this year
Border Force staff are pictured dealing with migrants coming ashore in Dover, Kent, this month
This boat of migrants was picked up by Border Force officials in the English Channel on April 14
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Rwanda's president Paul Kagame, seen meeting at Downing Street in London on April 9, have agreed a deal for deportation flights to the African country
Meanwhile, about 40,000 migrants living in Britain are still 'pending relocation' after having their asylum claims deemed inadmissible, officials admitted last week.
And the Home Office head Sir Matthew Rycroft told MPs on Monday last week the number of migrants arriving illegally in the UK must fall by about 10,000 for the government's Rwanda policy to prove value for money.
He said a one-third reduction in small boat crossings from last year's tally of 29,437 would be necessary due to the cost of the deportation programme.
More than 40,000 migrants have now attempted the dangerous channel crossing from France to England since Mr Sunak became Prime Minister, figures show.
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