The United Kingdom’s Home Office will launch an operation to detain asylum seekers in preparation for their deportation to Rwanda, The Guardian UK reported on Sunday.
The surprise operation would start a week earlier than expected across the UK.
The Guardian reported that officials would begin to detain asylum seekers who show up for routine meetings at immigration offices.
Officials would also make arrest the country in a two-week exercise.
Those detained would be taken to detention centres already prepared for the operation. UK authorities are expected to start sending the asylum seekers to Rwanda this summer.
Already, many asylum seekers are tilting towards Ireland for safety.
UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the influx of asylum seekers into Ireland shows that its immigration policies are working.
“Illegal migration is a global challenge, which is why you’re seeing multiple countries talk about doing third country partnerships,” Sunak told Sky News.
“But what it also shows, I think, is that the deterrent is already having an impact because people are worried about coming here,” he added.
“If people come to our country illegally, but know that they won’t be able to stay there, much less likely to come, and that’s why the Rwanda scheme is so important.”
The Rwanda bill cleared its final parliamentary hurdle on Monday, after a marathon tussle between the upper and lower chambers of parliament lasting late into the night.
Sunak hopes the bill will prevent asylum seekers from trying to enter the UK illegal by making small boat crossings of the Channel from northern Europe.
Immigration is set to be a key issue in a general election due this year, with Sunak’s Tories currently languishing in the polls.
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