Trump revisits controversial migrant plan: Deportations to Rwanda
As reported by the British tabloid "The Sun," the newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, is considering the possibility of relocating hundreds of thousands of migrants who are in the USA illegally to Rwanda, where they would wait for the processing of their residency applications.
Previously, the Conservative government of the United Kingdom attempted a similar solution. It was abandoned by the new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer when it was revealed that despite spending over £700 (approximately €840) million, only one person was sent to Rwanda. Later, Germany's special representative for migration agreements, Joachim Stamp, encouraged the European Union to use existing asylum centres in Rwanda for their needs.
"The Sun" reports on its website on Saturday evening, referring to a source close to Trump's camp, that "His team is looking at the Rwanda scheme. He is considering deporting illegal migrants to Rwanda and other countries so they cannot stay on American soil."
Change in migrant policy - Trump’s campaign promise
Trump and the future Vice President JD Vance promised mass deportations and suggested that they would restrict the use of the temporary protection status introduced in 1990, which allows people migrating from countries with dangerous conditions to live and work temporarily in the United States. Currently, over a million immigrants benefit from this status. Amid criticism of temporary protection, Trump suggested that Haitians with such status living and working in Springfield, Ohio, are eating their neighbours’ pets.
The idea of sending migrants to a third country was already mentioned in May by the American newspaper "Wall Street Journal," quoting Tom Homan, who led the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump's first presidency. He said he agreed with the president, and the process has to be a historic deportation operation because the US has had a historic inflow. No one’s off the table. If you’re here illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder."
Trump claims that Joe Biden's administration has allowed more than 10 million people to illegally enter the USA, increasing the total number of illegal immigrants to 20 million.
Rwanda, with a population of over 14 million, where there are 550 people per square kilometre, is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa.
