Syrian and Afghan refugees are believed to be on the list of people to be deported to Rwanda in a fortnight, according to charities.
Zoe Gardner, head of policy and advocacy for the Joint Council on Immigrant Welfare (JCWI), said 15 Syrians have been told they will be sent to Rwanda in two weeks.
Protect Civilians, a Syrian refugee advocacy group, said it believes both Syrian and Afghan refugees are on the list.
Egyptians, Kurds and Chadians are also expected to be deported on the Rwandan flight, the group added.
The allegations came when Interior Minister Priti Patel announced on Tuesday that the government would deport her first group of migrants to Rwanda on June 14.
The Interior Ministry said it had begun issuing formal expulsion notices to migrants as the “final administrative step” in its association with the East African nation.
Ms Patel said she hoped there would still be attempts to delay the process, but that she would not be “dissuaded” from carrying out the plans.
Boris Johnson confirmed the plans in April, saying it would mean that migrants using illegal routes, such as crossing the Channel, would be “quickly and humanely transferred to a third country or their country of origin.”
Politics has been heavily criticized by labor and refugee charities, but Johnson insisted that those trying to get to the UK in a small boat were largely young men who “did not flee directly from a imminent danger “.
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0:34 Migrants stopped at the Canal
Ms Gardner said one of JCWI’s clients was a Syrian who arrived in the UK by boat.
“There is no safe route to escape Syria. There is no visa to apply for or queue to join to get to the UK,” he said.
“That was the goal of the regime and he had to run. He has two sisters who live here, where would you go? What kind of reception would you expect?”
Interior Ministry figures released last week revealed that people fleeing Afghanistan were the largest group of migrants to cross the Channel in early 2022 after Western allies withdrew from the country. August 2021.
One in four people who took the risky trip was from Afghanistan, with figures showing almost the same number of Afghans crossing the Channel from January to March this year (1,094) as throughout 2021 ( 1,323).
Labor Secretary Yvette Cooper accused the government of “pursuing headlines regardless of reality” after the first flights to Rwanda were announced.
“Rwanda’s scheme is not to deter criminal gangs or small boat crossings, but to pursue headlines regardless of reality,” he said.
“It simply came to our notice then.
“There is no proper process to identify people who have been treated or tortured.”