(Bloomberg) — UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman will travel to Washington on Monday to meet with the heads of the Department of Justice and Homeland Security as she seeks support for the British government’s hardline anti-migration push.
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Braverman will meet Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland as part of a three-day visit to discuss measures to stop the flow of migrants illegally entering the UK and to tackle organized immigration crime, the Home Office said. She is due to “present a blueprint for how other countries can combat this crisis,” the department said in a statement.
Read more: Sunak’s Anti-Migration Push Shows Peril of Rightward Drift
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Braverman have sought to demonstrate a tough line on migration with their promise to “stop the boats” bringing migrants across the English Channels from France. The campaign involves trying to house some migrants on a barge moored off the southern coast, a move ministers say both reduces accommodation costs and acts as a deterrent. Braverman is also seeking to overcome a multitude of legal challenges holding up her plan to deport migrants illegally entering the country to special camps in Rwanda where asylum applications can be processed.
“Illegal migration and the unprecedented mass movement of people across the globe is placing unsustainable pressures on America, the UK, and Europe,” Braverman said in a statement. In a keynote speech to be delivered Tuesday, she intends to show how the UK “has led the way” in tackling migration, the Home Office said.
The number of pending asylum applications in the UK amounted to 133,607 as of the end of March. Three of every four pending applications have been awaiting an initial decision for more than six months.
A pivotal moment for the Conservative Party may come when the Supreme Court decides whether the Rwanda deportation program is unlawful. The case, which comes after the lower Court of Appeal declared the policy breaches human rights, is due to be heard in early October, with a judgment expected in late November or early December.
Meanwhile, there’s a renewed push from the Conservative Party right flank to leave the European Convention on Human Rights. Braverman is one of several cabinet members who would support such a move, people familiar with their thinking said. She has repeatedly said the ECHR undermines British democracy, while other influential Tories such as David Frost have been explicit in their demands.
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