UK Considers Sending Rejected Asylum Seekers to Third Countries
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, May 15, 2025. X/ @conflict_live
May 15, 2025 Hour: 8:45 am
Previously, PM Starmer unveiled new plans to reduce immigration in the United Kingdom, including tighter visa rules.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the British government has begun exploring the possibility of sending rejected asylum seekers to third countries to process their cases there before deportation.
RELATED:
Trump Pushes Self-Deportation with $1,000 Payment to Undocumented Migrants in the U.S
“In due course, I’ll be able to give you more details,” Starmer told reporters during a visit to Albania, where he met with Prime Minister Edi Rama.
“What we want to do now — and we’re discussing it — is to set up return centers, where someone who has gone through the UK system and needs to be repatriated can be effectively returned,” Starmer explained. However, he did not say which countries might be involved in the discussions.
In response, the Albanian prime minister suggested his country is not open to hosting such facilities. “Several countries have asked us whether we would be open to that, and we said no,” Rama said.
A few days earlier, Starmer unveiled new plans to reduce immigration in the United Kingdom, including tighter visa rules, following a setback for the Labour Party in recent local by-elections in England. The right-wing populist Reform Party, led by Nigel Farage, was the big winner in those elections.
In Tirana, the British prime minister said the UK and Albania are beginning “the next chapter of the strong relationship between our countries.” The visit offers “an opportunity to see firsthand how our two countries are working together on some of the biggest challenges we face,” including migration.
Starmer also announced that the United Kingdom has agreed to a “joint statement of intent” with Albania on defense cooperation.
“This is the moment for European countries to step up and stand firm against Russian aggression on the continent. Today, I’ll be visiting Albanian and British troops working together to defend our freedoms and our citizens — because the front lines in Ukraine are the front lines of Western values,” he said.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
