During questioning by the Home Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Home Secretary James Cleverly and two Home Office officials were asked about the status of around 33,085 immigrants who are currently in Britain but whose asylum applications are “inadmissible”. The chair of the committee, Labour MP Diana Johnson, pressed Cleverly about the numbers expected to be sent to Rwanda, and he replied that the number would depend on return agreements with other countries.
Sir Matthew Rycroft, the permanent under-secretary of state at the Home Office, said that those individuals have sought to claim asylum and are continuing to have their cases managed. Dan Hobbs, the director general of the Migration and Borders group at the Home Office, explained that there is no safe country to return these individuals to, and so they are currently residing in temporary accommodation while awaiting the conclusion of the Safety of Rwanda Bill and the movement forward of the relocation agreement with Rwanda.
Conservative MP Tim Loughton and Johnson pressed Cleverly regarding the number of individuals who would be sent to Rwanda, but Cleverly declined to provide a number, citing the unknown outcome of negotiations with other countries. Cleverly also met with the French interior minister to discuss efforts to combat people trafficking across the English Channel.
Mr. Cleverly insists the phrasing of “missing” is not appropriate, and that confirmed return agreements with safe countries are in place. The response is being mislabeled as “backlog” rather than “queue”. France has agreed to use drones to monitor the French coast to combat these efforts.