British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Sky News on Sunday that the fact that more migrants are heading to Ireland shows that his controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is starting to work.
He pointed to Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheál Martin saying that British asylum policy is causing migrants and refugees to cross the border from Northern Ireland because they fear being deported to Rwanda.
But on Sunday, Harris responded that Ireland has no intention of allowing other countries to use Ireland as a loophole for their own immigration policies.
Announces new law
His comments confirm reports that Ireland is planning legislative changes that would allow asylum seekers to be sent back to the UK.
Last week Harris said that 80 per cent of those seeking asylum in Ireland come to the country across the border from the UK.
He said that every country has the right to have its own immigration policy.
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– But I really do not intend to allow other people’s immigration policy to affect the integrity of ours. This country should in no way provide a way out for other countries’ challenges with immigration, he added.
Record number of migrant boats
This week, Parliament in London passed, after a long dispute, the law that will make it possible to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. Sunak hopes the new law will act as a deterrent to migrants trying to reach the UK on small boats across the English Channel.
A record number of migrants and refugees have crossed the English Channel so far this year, according to Sky News. In the first four months of the year, around 7,167 arrived on UK shores by migrant boat, compared with 5,745 in the same period last year. In the last week alone, 905 people have taken the dangerous journey.
