Let us press on with UK migrant plan, Rwanda tells critics
Kigali, Rwanda Reuters Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s government said on Friday it would take as many migrants as Britain sends its way and urged “shouting” critics of the deportation plan to now let both nations proceed. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expects first flights to leave in 10 to 12 weeks after parliament passed legislation […]
Migrants drown in English Channel hours after UK passes Rwanda policy
Wimereux, France/Dover, UK Reuters Five migrants, including a child, died in an attempt to cross the English Channel from France to Britain in an overcrowded small boat on Tuesday, hours after Britain passed a bill to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda in a move to deter the dangerous journeys. The deaths occurred when a boat […]
British PM Sunak’s Rwanda scheme set to pass parliament but challenges await
London, UK Reuters The British parliament is set to finally approve a divisive law this week to pave the way for asylum seekers to be deported to Rwanda, but further legal hurdles could yet hold up or derail one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s key policies. Sunak has invested huge political capital in the Rwanda […]
Migrant crossings to UK hit new record, heaping pressure on Sunak
London, UK Reuters More than 4,600 asylum seekers have arrived in Britain on small boats so far in 2024, a record total for the first three months of the year and giving Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a fresh political headache. Provisional data from the Home Office showed on Wednesday that 4,644 people had been detected […]
“We have never seen this level”: Threats to Catholic Charities staffers increase amid far-right anti-migrant campaign
As ALEJA HERTZLER-MCCAIN and JACK JENKINS, of Religion News Service, report, Catholic Charities locations have become the target of far-right media personalities, conspiracy theorists and even members of Congress…
Essay: We need practical – and humane – migration solutions
BRIDGET MOIX, general secretary of the US Friends Committee on National Legislation, says, in an article first published on Religion News Service, that sincere bipartisan negotiations and solutions on immigration law in the US are overdue…
Texas judge temporarily blocks attempt to shut down Annunciation House
United States RNS A state judge has temporarily blocked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s efforts to investigate and close Annunciation House, a volunteer-run network of Catholic migrant shelters based in El Paso. Paxton attempted to “run roughshod over Annunciation House, without regard to due process or fair play,” wrote state District Judge Francisco Dominguez in […]
Church of England agonises over asylum seekers’ bogus conversions row
London, UK Reuters The Church of England will not adopt a set of cast-iron criteria when deciding whether to baptise asylum seekers as it was impossible to see into someone’s heart, a bishop said on Tuesday amid a row over fake conversions to Christianity. The centuries-old church launched a review into its advice to clergy […]
UK plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda suffers first parliamentary defeats
London, UK Reuters British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered his first defeats over his legislation to send asylum seekers to Rwanda after the upper house of parliament demanded greater protections to be introduced before deportation flights can take off. Under the Rwanda plan, which has yet to be carried out, asylum seekers who arrive on […]
UK’s Rwanda plan for asylum seekers could cost more £600 million
London, UK Reuters The British Government’s controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda might end up costing more than 600 million pounds to deport 300 refugees, parliament’s spending watchdog said on Friday. Under the policy first announced in 2022, asylum seekers who arrive on England’s southern coast in small, inflatable boats would be sent […]