At the centre of Rishi Sunak’s plan to stop illegal migration is ‘deterrence.’ His flagship policy, the ‘Rwanda Plan,’ is set up to “deter people taking perilous journeys across the channel” by making them believe they won’t be able to stay in Britain. Yet those who visit the migrant camp in Calais know this is a “far-fetched threat” since crossers believe “they’ll [n]ever be deported to Rwanda.”
Figures released today show there is a strong grounding for this belief. Since 2020, just 1%—one percent—of migrants who arrived in Britain illegally on small boats have been deported.
