Second flight planned to take asylum seekers to Rwanda

The Home Office is planning a second flight to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, which could take off before the courts have ruled on whether the scheme is lawful.

It is understood a second flight could take off in weeks, even though the full high court hearing to examine the government’s Rwanda plans does not begin until 19 July.

The charities Detention Action and Care4Calais, the PCS union, which represents about 80% of Home Office Border Force staff, and several individual asylum seekers threatened with removal to Rwanda unsuccessfully made an urgent application to an earlier high court hearing to halt the first flight, which was due to leave on 14 June. The flight was subsequently grounded after an interim 11th-hour intervention from the European court of human rights.

During the hearing, the judge in the case, Mr Justice Swift, asked the Home Office counsel, Mathew Gullick QC, whether the Home Office was planning any further flights to Rwanda in the near future.

Gullick replied: “The Home Office intends to make arrangements for further flights this year. There may be a further flight scheduled between now and July. It will require approval from the Rwandan government.”

The group Stop Deportations posted a message on social media on 24 June stating: “We have heard that the Home Office has started to detain dozens of people to deport them to Rwanda.”

After the Strasbourg court’s interim measure grounded the 14 June flight, the home secretary, Priti Patel, said she was disappointed by the legal challenge, criticised the ECHR ruling and said the policy would continue. It is understood the Home Office has made submissions to the ECHR to set aside the interim ruling.

A spokesperson said: “An interim measure would usually only be lifted if the court was satisfied that there was no imminent risk of irreparable harm to the applicant. That test would normally be satisfied in an expulsion case if either a) there was no imminent risk of expulsion, or b) the court was satisfied that if expelled, there would no longer be a real risk of irreparable harm.”

The Home Office said: “We remain committed to our world-leading migration partnership with Rwanda, which will see those arriving dangerously, illegally or unnecessarily into the UK relocated to rebuild their lives. This is vital to prevent loss of life and break the business model of people smugglers. Preparations for the next flight are under way.”