Six months ago, the first planned flight to the African country was cancelled due to legal challenges and widespread criticism of the policy. The High Court has ruled that the government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is legal. The government announced its Rwanda policy in April, stating that some asylum seekers who arrived in the UK via small boat Channel crossings would be deported to the central African country to have their cases heard. Priti Patel, the then-home secretary, claimed it would deter people from making the dangerous journey, but human rights activists, charities, and opposition parties slammed the plan as inhumane. The first flight was set to take off in June with four people on board but was halted after a number of legal challenges, with the European Court of Human Rights ruling the plan carried “a real risk of irreversible harm. However, when Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss took the keys to Number 10, they both insisted on carrying out the policy.
