Rishi Sunak loses Supreme Court battle over UK plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda

LONDON — The British government has lost a Supreme Court fight over its plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, dealing a major blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The U.K.’s final court of appeal on Wednesday dismissed a challenge by the U.K. government to an earlier finding that its flagship policy was unlawful.

In its judgment, the Supreme Court said it agreed with the Court of Appeal that there was a “real risk” the U.K.’s plan would lead to asylum seekers being sent back to their home countries by Rwandan authorities without due process.

Sunak had promised to use the policy to get tough on migration as an election looms.

He is under major pressure from the right of his governing Conservative Party to do more to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats.

Sunak’s government wants to deport people who make “dangerous, unnecessary and illegal journeys” to the U.K. to the east African nation for their asylum claims to be processed and decided by Rwandan authorities.

It has already struck a multi-million pound deal with Rwanda to make that happen, but no flights have yet taken off.

The ruling follows months of deliberation and a lengthy legal battle, with representatives of asylum seekers arguing that people deported to Rwanda are likely to be “refouled” — sent by Rwanda back to their home countries and placed at risk of harm despite having a good claim.

The British government argued Rwanda was a safe third country with no substantial grounds to say they would be at risk of ill treatment. That argument was dismissed by the Supreme Court Wednesday, even as the court accepted the home secretary’s argument that the Rwandan asylum system may eventually have the capacity “to produce accurate and fair decisions.”

This developing story is being updated.