Britain passed sweeping new laws Thursday that will require security officials to detain and deport anyone arriving on the country's shores in a small boat. Those caught will also be barred from ever returning or applying for British citizenship in the future.
Photo by EPA-EFE/ANDY RAIN
April 27 (UPI) -- British lawmakers backed controversial government plans Thursday to deter the tens of thousands of people arriving in the country in small boats by making it illegal.
MPs in the House of Commons, parliament's lower house, voted 289-230 to pass the Illegal Migration Bill after the ruling-Conservative government successfully headed off a rebellion by some of its backbenchers.
The bill, which will see all arrivals detained and deported to their own country, or a safe third country such as Rwanda, had met with stiff opposition from about 20 Tory MPs concerned about lumping in unaccompanied children and victims of human trafficking with "illegal immigrants."
The MPs, who were calling for a three-day limit on the detention of children that could only be overridden by a court, backed down after ministers promised to consult with them on a "new timescale."
April 27 (UPI) -- British lawmakers backed controversial government plans Thursday to deter the tens of thousands of people arriving in the country in small boats by making it illegal.
MPs in the House of Commons, parliament's lower house, voted 289-230 to pass the Illegal Migration Bill after the ruling-Conservative government successfully headed off a rebellion by some of its backbenchers.
The bill, which will see all arrivals detained and deported to their own country, or a safe third country such as Rwanda, had met with stiff opposition from about 20 Tory MPs concerned about lumping in unaccompanied children and victims of human trafficking with "illegal immigrants."
The MPs, who were calling for a three-day limit on the detention of children that could only be overridden by a court, backed down after ministers promised to consult with them on a "new timescale."
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, The Children's Society, Action for Children, the National Children's Bureau and Barnardo's, have all strongly criticized the bill.
"We firmly believe that allowing unaccompanied children to be detained for any longer than 24 hours is unacceptable and poses serious risks to their health, safety and protection," the charities said in a joint letter to Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May and former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith who tabled an amendment reversing the bill's removal of existing stays of deportation for suspected victims of modern slavery or human trafficking, did not push it to a vote.
"Sending victims back to their own country or a third country like Rwanda will simply, at best, make them feel less secure, and therefore less able or willing to give the evidence needed, and at worst will drive them back into the arms of the traffickers and slave drivers," May said.
The bill is expected to encounter bigger problems when it progresses to the House of Lords which could see it amended extensively.
It also faces being challenged by the European Court of Human Rights which has already blocked deportation flights to Rwanda, with which Britain has a migrant-hosting agreement.
The Rwanda policy, which the government attempted to introduce last year, involves a five-year plan to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing and permits those granted refugee status to apply to settle there.
The flights have been grounded ever since the court issued a series of interim injunctions in June.
The bill contains a provision permitting Braverman to ignore future ECHR injunctions in certain circumstances.
When she brought forward the legislation early last month, Braverman admitted there was a more than 50% chance the bill was incompatible with international law.
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