The deportation scheme between the United Kingdom and Rwanda  is an inhumane experiment that should have died in the boardrooms where it was mooted or in the courts where it was challenged on grounds of rights and liberties.

But with a new law now in place in Britain allowing deportations to proceed, planes will start taking off soon, marking the beginning of another uncertain journey in an undesired direction for many migrants.

The gist of the scheme is that migrants – mostly African, Middle Eastern and Asian – who enter Britain illegally by sea will be forcibly sent to live in ‘hostels’ in Kigali and other locations as they await decisions on their asylum requests.

The kicker, though, is that the applications will not be processed in London but in Kigali, and migrants approved for asylum will get refugee status not in Britain, but in Rwanda. As if that’s not gloomy enough, no deportee will be allowed to apply to return to the UK.  If there’s a silver lining in all this, it is that unsuccessful applicants will be allowed to seek asylum in a different “safe third country” or request to settle in Rwanda on other grounds.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gushed last December that the pact with Rwanda would save his country “billions in the long run”. It’s easy to grasp what each country hopes to gain from this risky wager that uses young dreamers as guinea pigs.

Britain is investing in the dubious notion that the threat of deportation to some far-off outpost in Africa will deter illegal arrivals by sea. Migrants, officials reckon, will have to think twice about crossing the choppy English Channel from France in an unsafe inflatable contraption if their ultimate (unchosen) destination is Rwanda, known to the world as the scene of a notorious episode of bloodletting 30 years ago. The UK also wants to lock out undesirable elements who would burden its welfare system. With £3 billion spent annually on the asylum system (lodging, legal processes, etc.), Sunak is keen to trim the largess.

As for Rwanda, it’s largely a money grab. It will be paid hundreds of millions of pounds to warehouse boat people that the UK doesn’t want. Britain had already paid £140 million to Rwanda by the end of 2023, according to the website of the UK’s National Audit Office. Media reports have said at least £370 million will be paid over five years.

While it’s clear what Rwanda and the UK hope to gain from the scheme, it’s hard to see what good is in it for migrants. At the start of their perilous voyages, many presumably chose to go to Britain for specific reasons.

One is job opportunities. With its relatively strong economy, Britain theoretically offers more employment prospects for them. Yes, Rwanda’s economy grew by an impressive 7.6 per cent in 2023 (per  the World Bank), but it has high joblessness ( 22 per cent youth).Another reason is cultural affinity. Many migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia choose to go to Britain because it already has large established immigrant communities from those regions that they can lean on as they start new lives in a new country. No such significant communities exist in Rwanda.

But the immediate concern for deportees is where they will stay and what they will do as they await the outcome of their asylum pleas. How they will be helped to stay busy and avoid trouble while enduring what threatens to become a long legal limbo is unknown, but we are getting glimpses of where they will live. 

A photo of one shelter being prepped in Kigali shows what resembles a decently designed hotel complex with paved driveways and neatly manicured greenery. From afar, it looks alluring, but wait until its rooms and grounds start filling up with a polyglot population of transients who would rather be somewhere else.

— The writer is a consulting editor; gekonde@gmail .com