Omar paid an eye-watering sum – £12,000 – to get to Britain two years ago. However, the Kurdish migrant has now fled back to France after he was scared of being sent to Rwanda.
Speaking to Sky News, Omar said he “couldn’t cope with Britain anymore”. He said his miserable experience in Britain persuaded him to return across the English Channel, back to a squalid camp in France. Omar paid £500 to secure the return journey. He said: “They could arrest me and send me to Rwanda or Iraq. Rwanda – I cannot go there.”
This comes on the same day that Sir Keir Starmer vowed to scrap the Rwanda scheme on his first day in office.
In a speech in Dover, Sir Keir laid out Labour’s plan to tackle the small boats crisis.
He blasted Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as a “gimmick” and a “dead horse”.
The Labour leader said: “It is not going to work, it is an absolute waste of money. It is a gimmick, not a solution. I’m not prepared to have a government that is run on gimmicks.”
The Sky News report also found that smugglers were running out of clients to move across the English Channel thanks to the Rwanda scheme. One smuggler said: “These are the last Kurdish customers I have. There are no more.”
When asked why he was running out of customers, the smuggler simply said: “Rwanda.
Meanwhile, Omar compared his life in the French camp to his time in the UK, saying: “Here there is no washing or bath. You can’t clean yourself. Life is hard.
“But in Britain I had to give my fingerprints and signature regularly. Once every two weeks. Then I was told they had turned me down for asylum. I couldn’t cope with Britain anymore.
“They could arrest me and send me to Rwanda or Iraq. Rwanda – I cannot go there. So that’s why I came back here, to this place. But I have no money. I am 52 years old. It’s a terrible feeling to be back here, but what can I do?”
However, others interviewed at the camp were not put off by the Rwanda threat. Barzan, also from Kurdistan, said: “People won’t stop, whatever you tell them. Even if you tell them they will be taken to Africa, they would still go without hesitation. Rwanda is better than Kurdistan.
“But in Britain there is work. The currency is strong. I’m young and I want to make a life for myself.”
Another man named Karwan said: “I think it’s a joke. Two years ago they started going on about Rwanda and nothing came of it. Now, it’s just for the sake of the election. Nothing else.”
