The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, confirmed to Asylum Aid that the government will repeal (this means cancel) the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024, in response to Asylum Aid’s legal challenge to the Rwanda plan. This is a huge victory after the Rwanda Plan has caused so much anguish since it was first announced in April 2022.

The Rwanda Act (and accompanying Treaty) was passed on 25 April 2024, and the Home Office began ‘Operation Vector’ on 29 April 2024, which was the (unsuccessful) plan to detain people attending routine immigration reporting appointments, with a view to removing them to Rwanda. 

Like many other organisations and groups in the migrant justice sector, at Right to Remain we focussed our efforts on supporting our community and providing accurate and clear information. This information was vital as fear spread rapidly through migrant communities. 

At this time, Asylum Aid brought legal action against the Home Office to challenge the Home Office’s Safety of Rwanda policy in court, arguing that it was unlawful and had the potential to force the Home Office not to consider essential evidence and perhaps even deny people lawfully seeking asylum in the UK from engaging with the system. 

When the new Labour government came into power in the summer of 2024, it immediately announced its intention to end the Rwanda initiative(s) once and for all. The King’s Speech confirmed an end to the horrific ‘Migration and Economic Development Partnership’ (MEDP) with the Rwandan government that has been pushed for the last 2 years to enforce the failed Rwanda removals plan. The speech acknowledged the extreme (wasted) cost of the plan, and the fact that it has failed entirely to achieve its purpose of removing people seeking asylum from the UK.  

At the end of January 2025, and in response to the legal action by Asylum Aid, the Home Secretary confirmed to Asylum Aid that along with the Act, the Safety of Rwanda policy guidance and the policy on removal of ‘failed’ asylum seekers to Rwanda will be withdrawn. These commitments are set out in a consent order withdrawing Asylum Aid’s claim, which was agreed in October 2024 and sealed by the High Court on 13 January 2025.  

This is welcome news. For too long, Rwanda was a threat that loomed over the heads of many of our community, and cast fear upon many more. 

However, we still have work to do. Immigration enforcement continues to be a central aim of the current Labour government. Under this government we have seen a fresh wave of immigration raids, causing widespread fear in our communities.

Many people were mobilised in solidarity during the Rwanda Plan – and now is no different. We must stay vigilant, educate ourselves and support one another to resist immigration raids.
Learn more here.