LONDON: The UK’s controversial policy of deporting migrants to Rwanda could work and has already reduced the number of people leaving for Britain, two Iraqi people smugglers have told Sky News.
If the policy is applied, “people will back out from traveling to Britain and go to Europe instead,” one of the people smugglers said.
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the two remaining leadership candidates in the ruling Conservative Party, have both pledged to continue the policy if successful in their bids to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson following his resignation.
But the policy has faced significant setbacks, with no migrants having been deported due to legal challenges.
The Home Affairs Select Committee, a cross-party committee of MPs responsible for scrutinizing the work of the Home Office, this week said there is “no clear evidence” that the Rwanda policy will work, with chair Yvette Cooper slamming the program as a “waste of taxpayers’ money.”
A second smuggler told Sky News: “Our young people have ambitions, but they have no money and their families can barely feed them. They want to have a life, a house and get married.
“That is why they risk their lives, and they choose Britain because they will have rights. But because of the Rwanda policy the number of people leaving (to the UK) has dropped.”
