The United Kingdom government’s push to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda may not deter enough migrants to make the effort cost effective, the Home Office official charged with assessing the plan said Saturday.
Migrants who cross the English Channel on small boats risk being relocated to the African state with a one-way ticket, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Thursday in presenting the measure. His government will pay Rwanda about 120 million pounds ($158 million) to house them and process their asylum applications, Cabinet minister Simon Hart told Sky News.
Matthew Rycroft, the permanent secretary for the Home Office, said he led “a rigorous assessment of the regularity, propriety, feasibility and value for money of this policy.” Even if it proceeds, the plan could fail to reach its objectives of deterring immigration and reducing costs, he wrote in a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel. The U.K. spends more than 1.5 billion pounds on its asylum system a year and 4.7 million pounds a day on hotels to house migrants.
