U.K.'s Sunak pledges to stop cross-Channel migrants
The Hindu
"If you come here illegally, you can't claim asylum. You can't benefit from our modern slavery protections. You can't make spurious human rights claims and you can't stay," he said
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday vowed to remove illegal migrants within weeks under a controversial new plan to stop people crossing the Channel illegally on small boats.
Mr. Sunak was speaking after his Conservative government unveiled its proposals, which it acknowledged were stretching international law amid an outcry from rights campaigners.
More than 45,000 migrants arrived on the shores of southeast England on small boats last year— a 60% annual increase on a perilous route that has grown in popularity every year since 2018.
Under the draft law, which will be retrospective to Tuesday, anyone arriving illegally in the U.K. will not be able to claim asylum, Mr. Sunak told a news conference.
"If you come here illegally, you can't claim asylum. You can't benefit from our modern slavery protections. You can't make spurious human rights claims and you can't stay," he said.
"We will detain those who come here illegally and then remove them in weeks, either to their own country if it is safe to do so. Or to a Safe Third Country like Rwanda and once you are removed, you will be banned as you are in America and Australia from ever re-entering our country."
Mr. Sunak earlier Tuesday pledged in The Sun newspaper to "take back control of our borders once and for all", reprising a popular pledge from campaigners like him who backed Britain's Brexit divorce from the European Union (EU).
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