The Irish government gave the green light this Tuesday to the drafting of a new law that seeks facilitate the return of migrants to the United Kingdom to reach this country through the invisible border with the British province of Northern Ireland.
With this legislation, Dublin wants to once again designate the United Kingdom as a safe destinationconsidering that London last week approved a controversial plan designed to deport irregular migrants to Rwanda.
The Irish Minister of Justice, Helen McEntee, Today he presented to the Executive a preview of the package of legal measures on which he had been working since a ruling by the Dublin High Court in March modified an immigration agreement signed by London and Dublin in 2020.
This court determined that Ireland’s designation of the United Kingdom as “safe third country” for the return of asylum seekers, in the context of the Rwanda plan, is contrary to European Union (EU) law.
McEntee stressed this Tuesday that the new legislation is not a “panacea”, but assured that it will be part of an immigration policy “firm and fair.”
This matter has caused a diplomatic crisis between both countries, after the Irish Government, a coalition between Christian Democrats, centrists and Greens, has denounced that deportations to Rwanda are generating “fear” among migrants and who have caused a rebound in arrivals to this country.
The two sides say they will work together to strengthen the Common Travel Area between Ireland and the United Kingdom, which allows the free movement of their citizens, amid signs that migrants could be taking advantage of the lack of controls.
However, the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunakhas stated that “not interested” in a pact with Dublin for the return to its territory of undocumented migrants who cross into the republic to avoid deportation to Rwanda.
The conservative ‘premier’ maintains that the controversial plan is working as a tool, while warning that will not accept returns from the European Union through Ireland (which is a member of the bloc) “when the EU does not accept returns to France”, where, according to him, the illegal immigrants who arrive in England in boats through the English Channel come from.
McEntee insisted today that the 80% of the arrivals to Ireland of undocumented immigrants occurred across the invisible border with Northern Ireland, which has strained relations between the two countries in a conflict that London wants to transfer to the EU.
The Prime Minister of Ireland, Simon Harris, This Tuesday he expressed his “legitimate hope” for the United Kingdom to accept the return of asylum seekers at the border, a day after its British counterpart ruled out any possible agreement in this regard.
“I have the legitimate hope that the agreements between the two countries will be fulfilled”; Harris said upon his arrival at a Government meeting and in which he went back to the commitments signed after Brexit, by virtue of which Ireland reserves the right to return to the United Kingdom migrants whose asylum application is rejected .
The Irish Executive is now debating a legal reform that puts these commitments in black and white. “We are going to change the law to put into practice what Ireland and the United Kingdom have already agreed to and has been in force since 2020,” said Harris, who emphasized that it only seeks to provide “legal clarity.”
The Government of Ireland has denounced a increase in the arrival of asylum seekers in the face of growing political pressure in the United Kingdom, mainly due to the approval of the law that supports deportations to Rwanda. The flow would have increased in Northern Ireland, the only land border between the two sides.
The British Government has recognized that some of those potentially expelled have stopped notifying their whereabouts to the authorities; specifically, about 2,140 of the 5,700 already identified, according to a report from the Ministry of the Interior, collected by The Guardian.
As collected The New York Times, On Sunday Simon Harris said: “This country will in no way provide an escape from anyone else’s immigration challenges.” referring to the country already struggling to absorb an influx of refugees from Ukraine and elsewhere, and has seen violent clashes over immigration break out in small towns and major cities.
(With information from EFE and Europa Press)
