Political dispute: Ireland wants to return asylum seekers to the United Kingdom | RTL News

According to Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee, about 80% of migrants enter the country via the United Kingdom. Migrants cross the open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.

“The UK has seen an increase in asylum seekers since leaving the EU. They are choosing their own policies. But my focus as justice minister is on achieving an effective immigration policy in Ireland,” McEntee told Irish channel RTE News. Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said he had no sympathy for “providing a loophole to someone else's immigration problem.”

British politicians reacted strongly to the plan. A government source in London told The Telegraph that the UK will not take back asylum seekers from Ireland as long as the EU does not accept UK asylum seekers in France.

One-way ticket to Rwanda

Last week, the British Parliament approved immigration legislation ensuring that asylum seekers who illegally cross the Channel can be deported to Rwanda. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised to send the first asylum seekers to the East African country on a round-trip plane ticket within ten to twelve weeks. Today, the first migrants will already be detained while waiting for the first flight.

Deported migrants end up in this hotel in Rwanda:

Not only the UK, but Ireland as well, is suffering from dissatisfaction with the growing number of asylum seekers. In recent years, asylum seeker centers have been burned, anti-immigration demonstrations have been held, and riots have broken out in the Irish capital, Dublin, after the perpetrator of the stabbing was suspected of having immigrant origins. Furthermore, immigration in Ireland – just as in the UK – is high on the political agenda due to national elections scheduled to be held later this year.

Before Brexit, the British government could return asylum seekers to France. Under European agreements, refugees must apply for asylum in the country where they enter the European Union. But since Brexit, this rule no longer applies to the UK and no new treaty has been drawn up on the subject.

However, during the Brexit negotiations, agreements were reached on immigration between Ireland (which is still part of the EU) and Northern Ireland (which is part of the UK).

Ireland was recently banned from returning refugees to Northern Ireland. An Irish judge ruled last month that the UK was not a “safe country” because refugees there risked being deported to Rwanda. The Irish Minister of Justice is trying to circumvent this ruling through an emergency law.