The deportation policy to Rwanda creates a diplomatic crisis between Ireland and the United Kingdom. international

The political use of immigration has distorting effects, and has the potential to turn against those who enforce it. Four days before municipal elections across England that could decide the short-term future of Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister decided to boast about his new policy of deportations to Rwanda this Sunday, and with Sky News Assured in an interview that the increase of immigrants entering Ireland from the United Kingdom through Northern Ireland was a clear demonstration “that the preventive policy was already achieving the intended effect.” His comments have caused a diplomatic crisis between the governments of Dublin and London.

The Irish Justice Minister, Helen McEntee, and her British counterpart, James Cleverley, have decided to cancel a working meeting scheduled for this Monday, “for which another date will be assigned in the short term”, according to the statement from Dublin. Behind the coolness of the announcement is tension over an issue, irregular immigration, that is troubling both governments.

Sunak forced approval of his Rwanda security law last week, forcing parliament to hold a near-dawn vote aimed at sending a message of determination to conservative voters. Local elections are held in England on 2 May, and the defeat of Tory Polls predict that an internal revolt by the party’s hardline faction against the Prime Minister could accelerate and force early elections. The approval of the law, an increase in judges and police to manage the flow of immigrants, and the promise that deportations to the African country will begin in July are aimed at sending a message of determination to voters. In this desire, he miscalculated his statements, pointing as an achievement of his policy to the fact that approximately 80% of irregular immigrants who now reach Ireland do so through the United Kingdom.

Last November, Ireland, celebrated for decades as a land of welcome, suddenly woke up to xenophobic violence. A wave of rioting, burning vehicles, broken windows and racist slogans swept through the center of Dublin after three children and a teacher were stabbed to death by a man with obvious signs of mental illness in a single afternoon-night. About 100,000 asylum seekers, more than 75,000 of whom were from Ukraine, spent a night of terror, and the government suddenly discovered that there was also a germ of tension regarding immigration on that island. The housing crisis the country is facing due to rents and overpriced sales has led to an increase in homelessness and changes in social stability.

return of immigrants

The Irish Prime Minister, Simon Harris, has contributed to the diplomatic confrontation by ordering his judge to present legislative proposals to the government cabinet to allow the direct return to the United Kingdom of all irregular immigrants coming to Ireland. Thus Dublin acknowledged that, in fact, the announcement of deportation flights to Rwanda had increased the flow of people from one island to another. Many migrants afraid to enter the selection process to be deported to Rwanda have decided to flee Great Britain and enter Ireland through Northern Ireland, as there are no border controls between the two regions despite Brexit. The Irish Protocol preserved the open border to protect the peace reached with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

Harris warned, “Under no circumstances will this country allow a legal loophole to be created that would expose us to another government’s immigration challenges.” “Other countries can decide how to deal with migration. From an Irish perspective, our aim is to create a system with clear rules, in which those rules are enforced and respected,” he said.

return of migrants

Ireland and the United Kingdom, despite Brexit, enjoy a common area of ​​movement of people that allows free movement between the two islands. British government sources have already responded to the Irish warning that they would not accept the return of migrants if it was not considered as part of a broader agreement between London and the EU. A spokesman for the British Executive said, “We will not accept the return of immigrants from the Community area through Ireland unless the EU accepts that we can also send them back to France.”

The Supreme Court of Ireland blocked the government’s decision to designate the United Kingdom as a safe third country and open bilateral negotiations for the return of people. According to the judges, this decision had to be made within the framework of the European Union. The purpose of the ministers’ meeting this Monday was to launch cooperative measures to face a challenge that affects practically the whole of Europe.

The diplomatic crisis caused by Sunak’s triumphalist statements and Dublin’s threat to initiate a unilateral withdrawal process has stalled any efforts to reach a path of cooperation.

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