Fear of Deportation to Rwanda: Migrants' Despair at UK's New Asylum Seeker Law
A new UK law allowing the deportation of undocumented asylum seekers to Rwanda is causing fear and uncertainty among migrants in a camp near Dunkirk, France.
These migrants had hoped to cross the Channel to England, but now worry they could be sent to Africa instead.
The law has sparked incredulity and trepidation in the camp.
A group of refugees, including an Afghan named Sultan and an Iraqi Kurd named Sagvan Khalid Ibrahim, were shocked to learn that they could be sent to Rwanda under a new UK asylum policy.
Sultan and his friend were unsure of their next steps, while Sagvan expressed his preference to stay in France and his reluctance to go to Rwanda, which he saw as an unwelcome alternative to his native country.
A Syrian Kurd named Ebrahim Hamit Hassou expressed his preference to die in Europe rather than go to Rwanda, after learning about Britain's plan to send asylum seekers to that country.
The information spread among a group of migrants at a water supply spot in Europe.
Hassou, who was brushing his teeth at the time, reacted with a smile behind his beard.