Germany is considering using hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the UK on its now-defunct Rwanda migration scheme to send its own illegal immigrants to the East African country.
As one of his first acts after taking office in July, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced he would halt plans to send illegal boat migrants to refugee processing centres in Rwanda rather than allow them to remain in the UK.
The previous Conservative government was unable to get the plan off the ground, embroiled in a legal battle sparked by the European Court of Human Rights' (ECHR) sensational intervention to stop migrants being deported in the summer of 2022, but British taxpayers had already sent £318 million to build a refugee centre in Kigali and for its economic development.
This week, Germany's migration commissioner, Joachim Stamp, suggested using British investment to repatriate his country's illegal immigrants to Rwanda, as Germany seeks to step up deportations in the wake of recent Islamist terror attacks in Solingen and Mannheim and growing public anger over the country's open border policy.
Stamp suggested the government make use of “the available capacities that were originally prepared for this deal with the UK”, broadcaster NTV said. Reports.
The neoliberal Liberal Democrat politician said the plan could be used to deter the use of “hybrid warfare” tactics by Russia and Belarus, who are funneling migrants to the EU's eastern border in an attempt to destabilise the EU. Stamp said this could result in the expulsion of around 10,000 migrants a year into Rwanda.
“This means that the propaganda of Putin and Lukashenko will no longer allow Iraqis, Syrians and Afghans to say: 'Come to Minsk or Moscow and we will take you to Europe,'” he said.
“It would be great if we could find a third country here. So far no one has come forward except for Rwanda.”
The policy has not been agreed by the other parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's “traffic light” coalition government – the Social Democrats and the Greens – but it is likely to be a major political blow to Starmer's New Left government in London if Germany misappropriates hundreds of millions of dollars spent by British taxpayers.
Former Conservative Home Secretary Suella Braverman said Telegraph“Germany's decision to adopt the Conservative Party's Rwanda plan is further evidence of support within the EU for the need for meaningful deterrence.”
“Starmer's abandonment of the plan has left the UK seen as soft on illegal immigration and put it outside the rest of the EU in tackling the migration crisis, and has ruined the vital work that was done to get the plan on track. Starmer will come to regret this huge mistake.”
Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick added: “Labour's decision to scrap the Rwanda programme rather than strengthen it looks more foolish with each passing day. European leaders know that to stop illegal migration we need a deterrent. Keir has squandered invaluable cooperation and is now powerless to stop the ships.”
The Labour government argues that scrapping the Rwanda scheme would allow investment to be made in targeting people-smuggling gangs operating on both sides of the English Channel, in particular by creating new special Border Force units.
But since Labour came to power in July, more than 7,000 illegal immigrants have crossed the Channel. total The number of cases this year has exceeded 21,000, up from 29,437 for the whole of last year.
