Sending asylum seekers to Rwanda is not halting channel crossings, expected to double this year, according to the home affairs select committee.
Their report estimates that, by the end of 2022, 60,000 asylum seekers will have crossed the channel, double the figure for 2021.
“Quick fix solutions” such as the Rwanda scheme will not succeed, the report insists.
Instead, the government should establish safe and legal routes for asylum seekers and discuss with the French the creation of asylum processing centres in northern France.
Other concerns raised by the MPs included: a record backlog of 125,000 asylum cases, antiquated software, too few caseworkers, and large numbers of asylum seekers- 64,000 in September 2021- in Home Office accommodation, including hotels, while their cases are decided.
The treatment of unaccompanied asylum-seeker children drew particular criticism. The MPs urged the Home Office to expedite these claims; on average, children are waiting 550 days for a resolution. Worryingly, some children have been wrongly assessed as adults and interned in detention centres, while others have vanished from hotels.
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “The committee shares our grave concerns about cruel and nasty plans to treat people who have endured unimaginable trauma as human cargo by sending them to Rwanda.”
