The UK Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, has defended in a report by a British think tank that promoting laws to control illegal immigration is not «xenophobic» or «anti-immigration» behavior.
«The British public is fair-minded, tolerant and generous in spirit. But we are fed up that our immigration laws and rules continue to be broken to cheat our asylum system,» he has said, adding that the situation «must end.»
Braverman has recognized in the foreword of a 115-page report published Monday by the ‘think tank’ Center for Policy Studies that «the number of people crossing the English Channel to enter the UK illegally is totally unacceptable», so this situation, which costs «millions of pounds a day to the taxpayer (…) can not continue».
The British minister also stressed that recent migration agreements, such as the controversial plan criticized by human rights organizations to deport migrants to Rwanda or the cooperation agreement with France, are «insufficient measures».
«The Prime Minister (Rishi Sunak) and I are committed to do whatever it takes. We are finalizing our plan and will deliver the necessary operational and legislative norms to comprehensively address this problem,» he said.
Braverman said last October that his «dream» was «to have a front page of ‘The Telegraph’ with a plane taking off to Rwanda.» «That is my dream, that is my obsession,» she said during a conference of the Conservative Party from Birmingham, where she was in favor of taking more restrictive measures against irregular immigration.
Her predecessor in office, Priti Patel, promoted a project to deport to Rwanda those migrants who crossed irregularly into British territory, while their asylum applications were being processed. However, a judicial appeal prevented the first flight planned for June from taking place.
