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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Rajeev Syal Home affairs editor

Rishi Sunak’s migration plan ‘would have left 45,000 in permanent limbo last year’

A group of people crowded into a small rubber boat at sea disappearing into mist
People trying to cross the Channel to the UK in October 2022. Rishi Sunak wants to ban people who come to the UK irregularly from applying for asylum. Photograph: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP/Getty Images

More than 45,000 people who have crossed the Channel in small boats this year would have been detained indefinitely in a “permanent limbo” under Rishi Sunak’s flagship migration policy, a leading refugee charity has calculated.

The prime minister announced proposals this month to ban anybody who comes to the UK irregularly from applying for asylum and then deporting them as soon as possible. A new immigration bill is expected to be introduced within weeks.

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