The Interior Ministry is planning a second flight to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, which could take off before the courts decide whether the plan is legal, according to The Guardian.
It is understood that a second flight could take off in a matter of weeks despite the full hearing of the High Court to examine the Rwandan government’s plans not to begin until 19 July.
Interior Ministry sources said they would not comment on operational issues or speculation.
During a pre-high court hearing, the charities Detention Action and Care4Calais, the PCS union representing about 80% of the Interior Ministry’s Border Force staff, and several individual asylum seekers threatened with deportation to Rwanda unsuccessfully filed an urgent request to the judge to stop the first flight, which was due to leave on 14 June.
The flight was subsequently suspended after an 11-hour interim intervention by the European Court of Human Rights.
During the court hearing, the judge in the case, Justice Swift, asked Home Office adviser Mathew Gullick QC if the Home Office was planning more flights to Rwanda in the near future.
Gullick responded: “The Interior Ministry intends to make arrangements for more flights this year. There may be another flight scheduled by July. The approval of the Rwandan government will be needed.”
The organization Stop Deportations posted a message on social media on June 24 that said, “We have heard that the Interior Ministry has started detaining dozens of people to deport them to Rwanda.”
After the European court’s interim measure brought down the June 14 flight, Interior Minister Priti Patel said she was disappointed by the legal challenge, criticized the ECHR ruling and said the policy would continue.
“We will not be deterred from doing the right thing and offering our plans to control our nation’s borders,” he said. “Our legal team is reviewing all decisions made on this flight and now preparations for the next flight are beginning.”
It is understood that the Ministry of the Interior has submitted allegations to the European court to annul the provisional sentence.
When The Guardian asked the European court about the procedure when considering these allegations, a spokesman said: “An interim measure decision can be reviewed at the request of one of the parties. Normally, an interim measure it was only raised if the court was satisfied that there was no imminent risk of irreparable harm to the applicant.This test would normally be met in a case of expulsion if a) there was no imminent risk of expulsion, or b) the court would be convinced that if he were expelled, there would no longer be a real risk of irreparable harm. “
An Interior Ministry spokesman said: “We remain committed to our world-leading migration association with Rwanda, which will make those arriving in the UK in a dangerous, illegal or unnecessary way move to rebuild their “This is vital to prevent the loss of lives on the Canal and break the business model of human traffickers. Preparations for the next flight are underway.”
Interior Ministry sources added: “No court has ruled that this association is illegal, and this includes the European Court of Human Rights.”