Detained migrants earmarked for Rwanda released as officials prepare to axe scheme

The first Rwanda flight was originally scheduled for the end of June but delayed to July 24 after Rishi Sunak called a snap election - Andrew Matthews/PA

Migrants detained ahead of deportation to Rwanda have been released as Home Office civil servants stand ready to axe the scheme if Labour wins the election.

Three charities and a leading legal firm, representing some 200 detained migrants, told The Telegraph all of those they were supporting had been freed after applying to the courts for bail.

It is understood immigration tribunal judges freed them after ruling that there was not a realistic prospect of their removal to Rwanda within a reasonable timescale.

The migrants were detained in raids on their homes, or after they turned up at immigration centres, from late April. It was part of a Home Office operation, codenamed Vector and involving 800 enforcement officers, to get them ready for the first deportation flights to Rwanda.

The first flight was originally scheduled for the end of June but delayed to July 24 after Rishi Sunak called the snap election in May.

Mr Sunak was forced to provide the new date to the High Court, where the FDA, the top civil servants’ union, is mounting a legal challenge against the policy.

Through the election campaign, he has insisted that a “steady drumbeat” of flights would take off through the summer from July 24 if he remained in power, providing a deterrent to stop small boat Channel crossings.

However, Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has pledged to scrap the Rwanda scheme on “day one” of a Labour government and would instead allow migrants to lodge claims for asylum in the UK.

Labour plans to use the money saved from the Rwanda policy on a beefed-up border security command to crack down on people-smugglers at source.

Lawyers for the migrants are preparing legal claims for compensation for unlawful detention on the basis that there was not a realistic prospect of their deportation to Rwanda and no evidence that they would have absconded had they remained free.

Charities believe the uncertainty sparked by the election contributed to the decision to release the migrants. The Home Office has declined to say how many are still detained, but sources said it was not zero and that some were still being held. It has also not said how many were originally taken into detention.

However, The Telegraph has established that all 115 detained Rwanda migrants supported by the charity Care4Calais have been freed on bail, as have all 50 represented by Duncan Lewis Solicitors, all 38 supported by Detention Action and all 20 represented by Bail for Immigration Detainees.

Their release was determined by what are known as the Hardial Singh principles, named after a test case, which state that to be lawful detention must only be exercised when there is a realistic prospect of an individual’s removal within a reasonable timeframe.

With Labour around 20 points ahead in the polls, the party is likely to form the next government and start dismantling the scheme.

Some £300 million has already been committed to Rwanda under the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with the African state, and cannot be reclaimed.

However, there is a break clause in the agreement. Once activated, it will mean the Home Office can save on two further £50 million payments in 2025 and 2026 as well as up to £120 million, which would have to be paid once 300 people have been relocated, and on the £20,000 payments per individual relocated.

Last month, The Telegraph revealed how migrants in northern France said they were waiting for a Labour government before crossing the Channel after Sir Keir’s pledge to scrap the Rwanda scheme. Some said they were worried about the threat of being deported.

However, a Labour spokesman said: “If the Tories thought their Rwanda scheme would work, they wouldn’t have called an election before a flight could take off. Instead, as soon as the Prime Minister named a date for an election, many of those supposedly earmarked for removal were bailed.

“By calling an election now, Sunak was acknowledging what many have been saying for a while – the flights were never going to go and the whole Rwanda scheme was a long and extortionate saga we’ve all been forced to sit through.”

A Tory spokesman said: “The only way to get regular flights off to Rwanda and stop the boats is to vote Conservative. A vote for any other party means a Starmer government, which would cancel the fights.

“The result of that will be the UK becoming the asylum capital of the world. It will mean record numbers of boat crossings, beginning the day that Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper get into government.”

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