Johnson plans to send migrants crossing the English Channel to Rwanda

• United Kingdom Johnson takes a swerve in his policy towards refugees after harsh criticism

• War in Ukraine Johnson's "lack of humanity" with Ukrainian refugees

The "premier"

has confirmed his plans to send directly to

the thousands of immigrants who cross the

and who are awaiting asylum.

The conservative leader assured that the decision obeys "humanitarian criteria" and that it will be possible "thanks to the freedoms of Brexit", although he acknowledged that he may face legal obstacles.

Opposition parties and NGOs made common cause in condemning the plan as "inhumane", "cruel", "evil" and "shameful".

The "premier" shared the harsh criticism with his Secretary of the Interior, Priti Patel, who this week traveled to Kigali to seal the agreement after eight months of negotiations.

The Rwandan government would receive the equivalent of €145 million to temporarily house the migrants and ultimately give them a chance to "

and 7,000 kilometers from the UK.

Priti Patel, the daughter of Indian immigrants living in Uganda, is the real architect of the controversial plan to try to stop the avalanche of immigrants arriving on British shores, which reached a record 28,526 last year.

Some 5,000 immigrants have completed the risky journey so far this year, 600 of them last Wednesday, with the tragedy that cost 27 lives last November with the sinking of an inflatable boat.

Patel then proposed to send the boats loaded with immigrants directly back to the French coast, a measure criticized as "inhumane" by the authorities and recognized yesterday as "impracticable" by Boris Johnson himself.

Patel is also in the eye of the storm due to

.

Only 12,000 refugees have been received to date in the United Kingdom, the majority having family in the British Isles and only 1,200 due to the controversial Homes for Ukraine "sponsorship" system.

They all require visas that can take weeks to process.

In a speech in Kent, the county most affected by the arrival of immigrants crossing the English Channel, Boris Johnson highlighted his country's role as a "beacon of openness and generosity" and yet he tiptoed through the obstacles to hosting Ukrainian refugees, in contrast to EU countries.

The "premier" assured that the immigrants who arrive in Calais "go through manifestly safe countries, many of them in Europe, where they could and should seek asylum."

According to Johnson, abuses of the system are "eroding public support for the concept of asylum" and are fueling "the business model of human traffickers."

With the new Nationality and Borders Law, Johnson aims to introduce several deterrents.

and boat pilots could even get

.

The English Channel will also be "militarized" with the Royal Navy at the helm, replacing the Border Force.

Rather than being accommodated in hotels, migrants arriving in the UK will be transferred to a Greek-style "reception centre" in North Yorkshire.

Only men will be eligible for transfer to Rwanda, although the number of women and children has fallen sharply in recent months.

Nine out of ten of those who completed the journey in 2021 were men, most of them Kurds of Iranian and Iraqi origin, Syrians, Afghans and Central Africans.

According to estimates by the British Government, housing 25,000 immigrants pending asylum in hotels costs more than four million euros a day.

"Sending immigrants beyond our shores may be

," warned former International Cooperation Secretary Andrew Mitchell, however, the most critical voice among conservatives against the Johnson Government's plans.

Mitchell warned in passing that the Australian government itself - which has served as a model for post-Brexit migration policy - had to back down from a similar measure due to legal problems.

Labour's Mark Drakeford, chief minister of Wales, criticized the move as "cruel and inhumane".

"This is an evil decision that does not fit the canons of a civilized society," said Scottish National Party (SNP) parliamentary spokesman Ian Blackford.

"This is a brutal and disgusting decision that does absolutely nothing to address the reasons why people decide to make these dangerous journeys to find safety in the United Kingdom," said Enver Solomon, head of the Refugee Council, which warned that the Johnson government could be violating the UN Refugee Convention.

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