Rwanda immigration plan ‘cannot stand up to judgment of God’ Boris Johnson

LONDON. – The head of the Church of England has made a stark intervention in the government’s controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby told his Easter sermon at Canterbury Cathedral on Sunday the policy cannot stand up to the judgment of God.

He said the measures announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel this week “cannot carry the weight of our national responsibility as a country formed by Christian values”.

He said this is “because sub-contracting out our responsibilities, even to a country that seeks to do well, like Rwanda, is the opposite of the nature of God who himself took responsibility for our failures”.

The Archbishop of York has added his voice to the criticism too, telling his Easter Sunday sermon at York Minster i is t “so depressing and distressing this week to find that asylum seekers fleeing war, famine and oppression from deeply, deeply troubled parts of the world will not be treated with the dignity and compassion that is the right of every human being, and instead of being dealt with quickly and efficiently here on our soil will be shipped to Rwanda”.

Stephen Cottrell added: “We can do better than this. After all, there is in law no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker. It is the people who exploit them that we need to crack down on, not our sisters and brothers in their need.

“We don’t need to build more barriers and cower in the darkness of the shadows they create.”

Earlier this week the government announced plans to curb migrant crossings of the English Channel in small boats, and people who are deemed to have entered Britain by unlawful means since January 1 may be sent to Rwanda where they will be permitted to apply for asylum in the African country.

The UN Refugee Agency opposed the plans and on Saturday Robina Qureshi, director of the refugee homelessness charity Positive Action in Housing, said: “The refugee policy of this country should be clear by now.

“It’s not about saving refugees’ skins, it’s about saving this government’s skin.

But the archbishop said there were “serious ethical questions about sending asylum seekers overseas”.

He said: “The details are for politics. The principle must stand the judgment of God, and it cannot. It cannot carry the weight of resurrection justice, of life conquering death. It cannot carry the weight of the resurrection that was first to the least valued, for it privileges the rich and strong.”

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