The first illegal migrants set to be deported to Rwanda have been detained after Home Office operation

The first migrants set to be deported to Rwanda have been detained.

The Home Office said a series of operations took place across the country this week, with more activity due to be carried out in the coming weeks.

Officials have not yet said how many people have been detained, or where they were taken into custody.

It comes ahead of the Government's bid to get flights to send migrants to the east African nation off the ground by July, after the Safety of Rwanda Act became law last week.

In one video, a team of about six officials – all thought to be from the Home Office's Immigration Enforcement unit – arrive at a terraced house and enter through the front door.

A female officer is then seen opening an internal door and announcing: 'Immigration.'

A man dressed in dark-checked trousers and a light-coloured hoodie then walks out of the bay-fronted house and steps into the rear of a detention vehicle.

A security grille is then locked behind him.

In a second sequence, officers arrive at another terraced house and then leave with a bearded young man dressed in black trousers and a black hoodie.

The man walks out of the white-rendered property with his hands handcuffed in front of him, and is placed in a van.

The faces of both men were obscured in the videos and the locations of the detentions have not been disclosed.

It is not known at this stage how many people have been held in total.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said: 'Our Rwanda partnership is a pioneering response to the global challenge of illegal migration, and we have worked tirelessly to introduce new, robust legislation to deliver it.

'Our dedicated enforcement teams are working at pace to swiftly detain those who have no right to be here so we can get flights off the ground.

'This is a complex piece of work, but we remain absolutely committed to operationalising the policy, to stop the boats and break the business model of people smuggling gangs.'

Operational teams within the Home Office have been working at pace to safely and swiftly detain individuals in scope for relocation to Rwanda.

More activity due to be carried out in the coming weeks.

The action is a part of the plan to deliver flights to Rwanda in the next nine to 11 weeks.

Eddy Montgomery is the Home Office Director of Enforcement.

He said: 'Our specialist operational teams are highly trained and fully equipped to carry out the necessary enforcement activity at pace and in the safest way possible.

'It is vital that operational detail is kept to a minimum, to protect colleagues involved and those being detained, as well as ensuring we can deliver this large-scale operation as quickly as possible.'

The Home Office has increased its detention capacity to more than 2,200 detention spaces, trained 200 new caseworkers to quickly process claims and has 500 highly trained escorts ready. 

Mr Cleverly said last week that a series of commercial charter flights have already been booked, and an airport has been put on standby, though to be the Ministry of Defence base Boscombe Down, near Salisbury, Wilts.

The Safety of Rwanda Act became law on April 25 and, along with a new treaty with Rwanda, ministers believe they have overcome legal objections raised about the policy by the Supreme Court last November.

It came as the Home Office confirmed there were 268 arrivals across the Channel by small boat yesterday.

The running total since the start of the year is now 7,567, up 22 per cent on the same period last year.

Dozens more migrants were intercepted in the Channel today by UK Border Force and brought to Dover.

The Home office said Rwanda has proven its ability to offer asylum seekers a chance to build new and prosperous lives with accommodation, education, training and employment. 

It said the country has a strong and successful track record in resettling people, hosting more than 135,000 refugees, and stands ready to accept thousands more who cannot stay in the UK.

Officials said the government's Safety of Rwanda Act and internationally binding Treaty reaffirm and ensure the safety of Rwanda and this policy. 

The Treaty responded to the Supreme Court's findings in December by strengthening Rwanda's asylum system to ensure no one will be returned to an unsafe country after relocation.

It came as the first asylum seeker was deported to Rwanda under Rishi Sunak's migrant crackdown on Monday evening.

The migrant, whose name is unknown, was flown out of the UK to Kigali.  He was put on a commercial flight and given around £3,000 from the British taxpayer to help relocate under the terms of a deal with Rwanda. 

It marks the first time the government has relocated a failed asylum seeker to a third country. 

The man's attempt to stay in Britain was rejected at the end of 2023, before he accepted the offer to start a new life in the central African nation. 

In March, The Home Office confirmed the voluntary relocation plan for those found in Britain without the right to be here. 

In 2023, 19,000 failed asylum seekers were voluntarily taken out of the UK, after being told they would never be granted the rights of legal migrants. 

There are still tens of thousands of migrants in the system who cannot be sent back to their home countries.  

Ministers said it is cheaper to send migrants to Rwanda than to support them in Britain, even after giving them money and flights. 

Bungling Home Office officials reportedly admitted they can't find thousands of migrants who are set to be deported to Rwanda, it was reported yesterday. 

An updated document assessing the impact of the partnership with the east African country states that Rwanda has agreed to accept 5,700 people.

But in an embarrassing admission by the Home Secretary James Cleverly's department, it says only 2,143 continue to report and their whereabouts are known.

Sources admitted to The Times that there was significant risk that they could have absconded now that the deportation bill has passed through Parliament.

However, the Home Office has said that the remaining 3,557 people may not have absconded but are not subject to reporting restrictions.

The Home Office currently gives those seeking asylum somewhere to live and a £49 a week allowance, for each person in a household, to pay for food and clothes. 

Those who are being detained have all arrived in the UK illegally between January 2022 and June 2023 - according to the Migrant and Economic Development Partnership document - mainly by small boat Channel crossings.

The document stated: 'Of the 5,700 people Rwanda has in principle agreed to accept, 2,143 continue to report to the Home Office and can be located for detention.'