Asylum seekers should not be deported to Rwanda until the policy is fully tested in the courts, said a union leader, who predicted that the first expulsion flight would not take place as planned this week. .
A first deportation flight under the plan to expel people arriving in the UK on unofficial routes to the East African country is scheduled for Tuesday after a high court judge ruled on Friday that it could continue .
Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the PCS union, which represents more than 80 percent of Border Force personnel, said he hoped an appeal to the high court on Monday would stop the flight.
He also argued that Home Secretary Priti Patel should not ask officials to implement the policy before their legal position is fully proven.
He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge program on Sunday: “Imagine if you are now an official in the Home Office, who is going to work because you want to see a human immigration system where people are treated fairly and we comply. with our international obligations.
“Imagine if they told you to do something on Tuesday, that in July it would be determined to be illegal. It would be a terrible situation.
“I mean, if Priti Patel had any respect, not only for the desperate people who come to this country, but also for the workers she works for, I wouldn’t ask any of them to participate in any deportation of any asylum seeker. until, at least, these cases are tried in the courts for the full sentence of legality, which will be in July “.
Friday’s trial judge, Judge Swift, refused to grant “interim relief” after some of the asylum seekers facing deportation to Rwanda filed a precautionary order. .
The decision will not prevent individual refugees from having further legal challenges for their withdrawal or a judicial review of the policy, which Swift said could take six weeks.
The PCS is involved in a lawsuit for the case Monday. Serwotka said there was a need for a debate not only on the legality of the policy, but also on its ethical basis.
“When people flee Iraq, Iran or Syria or Yemen and come to that country, they flee death, torture and persecution,” he said. “We need to welcome people to this country and treat them civilly and evaluate their cases when they are here.
“We hope to win tomorrow at the Court of Appeal to stop the flight.”
The policy aims to dissuade people from using unofficial routes such as crossing the Channel in small boats to enter the UK and seek asylum. The number of people doing so has not yet dropped, but Downing Street says the impact will only be seen when the policy is fully in place.
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Critics argue that the relatively small numbers that could be sent to Rwanda will not discourage people, and that the fact that people with children are not deported will simply provide an incentive to bring minors on ships.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis also defended the policy on Ridge’s program, although he declined to comment on what he called critical “rumors” of Prince Charles, who described the plan as “creepy”.
When asked if he was personally comfortable with politics, Lewis said, “Yes, I really am.
“The reality is that this is a policy that will be implemented to ensure that modern slavery and these human traffickers know that their criminal methods will be broken.”