Marcus Garvey was once the face of the “Back to Africa” movement. It appears he’s now been supplanted — by Boris Johnson, nonetheless.
Britain, like the U.S., has been grappling with a migrant crisis along its border for several years. In many ways, they’re quite similar: Whereas, here, illegal immigrants join massive caravans that stream across the Rio Grande River; in Britain, they row across the English Channel from France, after being trafficked there by criminal gangs. In both cases, broken immigration laws mean they’re welcomed by border personnel and soon released into the country, rather than detained and penalized. Both journeys are long, dangerous, costly, and illegal. It hasn’t stopped them from coming.
A new solution, however, aims to solve that problem. On Wednesday, the U.K. Government announced a deal with Rwanda, a nation in Central Africa, to have illegal immigrants to Britain processed in that country. The U.K.-Rwanda Migration Partnership will have migrants who enter the U.K. illegally, e.g., in “small boats or hidden in lorries,” flown to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed. If accepted, they will be granted “full rights” to remain in Rwanda and permanently settle there.
As part of the deal, the U.K. is investing $156 Million in Rwanda and its own border security. It ensures that illegal immigrants will be removed from Britain, while forcing prospective asylees to file applications from afar the normal way (like everybody else) and not take the dangerous route to enter illegally. As Britain’s home secretary Priti Patel (of Ugandan origin) said, “Change is needed because people are dying attempting to come to the UK illegally.” More importantly, she correctly expressed public frustration over the problem. In her words, “Access to the UK’s asylum system must be based on need. The cost to the taxpayer, and the flagrant abuses are increasing. The British public have rightly had enough.”
All well and good, except for one thing. Britain’s idea isn’t original by any means. It came from across the pond, here in America. The U.S. has had these arrangements – termed ‘Safe Third Country Agreements’ (STCA) – with adjacent nations for years to deal with illegal immigration. These STCAs have enabled migrants’ removal back to safe countries through which they initially passed to claim asylum there – being the first places they entered upon fleeing danger. Migrants with legitimate claims are, thence, given asylum as needed, while illegals are kept out of the U.S., with no legal loopholes that may let them stay.
Apart from one STCA with Canada, three more were signed with Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador in 2019, which would’ve torpedoed the chances of caravan migrants being granted asylum after crossing the Southern Border. That is, until the Biden administration – under pressure of the Left – rescinded them. Their companion measure, the Migrant Protection Protocols or ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy, remains in effect after withstanding a court challenge – keeping fraudulent asylees out of U.S. territory (after which they may abscond) while their applications are processed. Britain’s move, at its essence, draws from these American successes.
What this should reveal is that America’s conservative solutions to border security – i.e., STCAs and ‘Remain in Mexico’ – are effective and just. Other nations like the U.K. are now adopting them to control illegal migration. That ‘Rwanda’ was chosen a nation is not a punchline. After the infamous genocide in 1994, it has become one of the world’s safest countries and one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies. It has opportunity, needs newcomers, and is willing to accept them. Surely, there is no excuse for legitimate migrants to turn it down, unless their only goal is to get to the West. If so, they ought to follow the law and get in line.
In sending some migrants “back to Africa,” Boris Johnson thus takes a page from the American policy book. Ironically, back home, Democrats seek to rewrite it and abolish these very successes. Let Britain’s imitation remind us of what America has done well.