** There is concern among Ukrainian refugees living in the UK that the British government has reached an agreement with Rwanda to send illegal immigrants to the central African country to process their asylum claim there.
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Home Secretary Priti Patel recently traveled to the former British colony to sign a deal – and to see accommodations for refugees.
At this refugee center in London, volunteers say many Ukrainian families come into the country without papers, and that the news has alarmed them. The government has not yet decided that the new law could be a problem for them.
“I can’t imagine taking them to another continent, far from everything I know. None of us want to get into this situation,” worries a Ukrainian refugee woman.
Many Ukrainian refugees come to the UK because there is a large Ukrainian community. But due to the administrative backlog, many visa applications have not yet been processed, and many of them entered the country illegally.
Since Ireland has abolished the visa requirement for Ukrainian citizens, refugees who arrive there can easily enter the UK through the Northern Ireland border under the Open Border Agreement.
Our reporter asks: “Will the government really send unregistered Ukrainians to Rwanda?” “The government has confirmed that this is the technical way the system has been designed, which has been welcomed by some members of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party because they believe this method will divert illegal immigrants.”
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen supports the government’s plan in Rwanda. “We will have laws facilitating the deportation of foreign criminals, and I think it is important to include those who have committed the crime of entering the UK illegally and undocumented.”
The Minister of the Interior told Euronews that the UK visa program does not require Ukrainian citizens to travel here illegally.
Priti Patel says: “There is no reason why Ukrainian citizens should not be registered in the UK, they are here legally and legally with their visas and refugee status. The Migration and Economy Agreement with Rwanda addresses the issue of illegal immigration.”
The government designed this policy to distract those who wanted to cross the English Channel. The fact that all of this applies to unregistered Ukrainians is likely an unplanned but unpleasant consequence of the new law.
