The Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris has announced enacting emergency legislation to send asylum seekers back to the United Kingdom, after seeing a surge in migrants crossing the border into Ireland following Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda Policy. In turn, the British Prime Minister wants an agreement with the European Union to send returning asylum seekers back to France.
Mr. Harris emphasized that his country is proud of the lack of a hard border with Northern Ireland. But recent influxes of asylum seekers have put pressure on the government to tighten migration laws and discuss a new returns policy, triggering a diplomatic clash with its neighbor.
Ireland is already struggling to accommodate refugees coming from Ukraine and elsewhere and is fearful that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s tough stance on illegal immigration will only worsen an already tense situation.
In an interview with the BBC on Sunday, Mr. Harris outlined Ireland’s stance on asylum seekers crossing the border with Northern Ireland, stating “This country will not in any way, shape or form provide a loophole for anybody else’s migration challenges.” Although he refused to comment on the United Kingdom’s new policy, he insisted on protecting “the integrity of the migration system in Ireland” which is a clear “rules-based system.”
Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee began an accelerated decision-making process in November 2022 for those seeking asylum from third countries deemed “safe” and the government is now discussing the possibility of enacting a returns policy for those arriving from the UK.
The Prime Minister seeks to invoke emergency legislation to curb arrivals via Northern Ireland and to amend the existing law to enable the return of asylum seekers to the UK.
This move comes after the Irish High Court declared that considering the UK a “safe third country” for refugee deportations breached EU law, citing concerns that individuals might be deported from the UK to Rwanda.
But negotiations with the UK over the issue are at a standstill — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak emphasized that he is “not interested” in pursuing a deal with Ireland on sending asylum seekers back to the UK.
Tensions between the two countries heightened with the late-hour postponement of Ms. McEntee’s meeting with British Home Secretary James Cleverly on Sunday evening.
An escalating migration crisis
The diplomatic row began after Ms. McEntee announced last week that 80% of asylum seekers in Ireland came from across the land border.
Ms. McEntee said that over 5,000 have applied for asylum this year and that over half of these are secondary movements, primarily for economic reasons rather than seeking protection. The fast-track policy, aiming to speed up the process of their demand for international protection in 90 days, has so far resulted in a reduction of 50% of applications.
However, an additional hurdle in managing the surge of asylum seekers remains. Despite 7,300 individuals having their refugee status denied since the onset of 2023, only 100 have been deported, largely due to the majority filing appeals against the decision.
This inefficiency is putting pressure on the government to act, especially as violence and protests have escalated in certain towns accommodating international protection applicants in Ireland.
The situation is also straining accommodation resources, with InfoMigrants reporting that many asylum seekers are forced to sleep in tents in the streets and poor conditions are causing diseases to spread.
Since Brexit in 2020, the border between Ireland and the UK has remained the only land border between the UK and the European Union, and the lack of immigration checks there has made it particularly difficult to regulate migratory flows.
Now, with the enactment of the Conservative Party’s Rwanda Policy, the Irish government believes that the situation will only worsen.
The leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice party in Ireland, Jim Allister, instead blamed the Irish government for the migration problem. He told the Telegraph that the country is “reaping what it sowed” after insisting on keeping borders open after Brexit.
The controversial Rwanda plan
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s controversial relocation treaty to send asylum seekers back to Rwanda if they arrive in the country illegally was finally approved in Parliament last week, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling in November that deporting asylum seekers back to Rwanda was unlawful.
The operation has come weeks earlier than expected, coinciding with local elections in which the Conservative Party faces losing up to half its seats. The policy will lead to mass detentions of asylum seekers across the country as the Prime Minister seeks to fulfill his promises of tackling illegal migration. Detention centers have already been opened in anticipation, while the Rwandan government has also been preparing the integration process.
Despite criticism from the opposition parties, Mr. Sunak has pressed forward with his policy, aiming to send the first plane of asylum seekers back to Rwanda in July.
Rishi Sunak welcomed the movement of migrants to Ireland as evidence that his new Rwanda Policy was working as a deterrence for asylum seekers arriving in boats across the Channel.
Despite Ireland’s hopes for a new deportation policy, the UK has insisted that it will not accept any returning asylum seekers from Ireland unless an agreement with Brussels is met over sending them back to France.
