Britain’s immigration minister has resigned after the government published a bill declaring Rwanda a safe country for a migrant deportation program.

The UK’s ruling Conservative Party is in turmoil after the government published emergency legislation that would allow a controversial vote Deportation plan to Rwanda move forward.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s position appeared vulnerable on Wednesday after Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick resigned amid “strong disagreements with the direction” of the government’s immigration policy.

The Rwanda Security Act seeks to overturn a November 15 UK Supreme Court ruling that invalidated the government’s proposed plan to send thousands of asylum seekers and migrants to the East African country unlawful.

The bill, which considers Rwanda a safe country and is expected to be expeditiously introduced in the House of Commons, bypasses some sections of the Human Rights Act (HRA) and “any other provision or rule of domestic law and any interpretation of international law.” through the court.”

The proposed legislation would also give courts the ability to ignore any injunction from the European Court of Human Rights to block flights.

Sunak has backed the emergency legislation, saying it would allow the deportation plan to no longer remain stuck in court.

“Our new groundbreaking emergency legislation will control our borders and stop people making dangerous journeys across the English Channel [and] End the constant legal challenges filling our courts,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“Parliament should decide who comes to this country, not criminal gangs.”

In his resignation letter to the Prime Minister, Jenrick wrote that the proposed laws were “a triumph of hope over experience.”

“The country has too much at stake for us not to seek the stronger protections needed to end the merry-go-round of legal challenges that could cripple the system and undermine its intended deterrence,” he wrote.

This was seen as a reference to Sunak’s refusal to take Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The publication of the law comes a day after the British Home Secretary James Cleverly signed a new contract during a visit to Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, to undertake commitments regarding the treatment of asylum seekers and other migrants sent there.

Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta, who signed the bilateral agreement with Cleverly, said on Wednesday that any breach of global conventions could result in Rwanda withdrawing from the agreement.

“Without lawful behavior by the United Kingdom, Rwanda would not be able to continue the migration and economic development partnership,” he said, referring to the controversial agreement.

The Rwanda plan is at the heart of Sunak’s immigration policy and its success is likely to be key to the success of his Conservative Party, which is trailing by about 20 points in opinion polls ahead of elections next year and the issue is one of voters’ biggest concerns.

The Prime Minister, who was born of Indian descent and immigrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s, has promised flights would begin in spring next year.

Great Britain signed a contract in April 2022 that some asylum seekers arriving in the UK by boat across the English Channel would be sent to Rwanda where their asylum claims would be processed.

On June 29, 2022, a London appeal court ruled that the policy was unlawful under the UK’s Human Rights Act, which converts the European Convention on Human Rights into British law. The first deportation flight to Rwanda was blocked on June 14, 2022 by a last-minute order from the ECtHR.

The UK Supreme Court concluded last month that the UK is a party to various conventions, including the Refugee Convention, which stipulates that the Rwanda plan is unlawful due to the possibility of human rights abuses in Rwanda or the refugees’ home countries.

The court said Rwanda was not safe for refugees and people could only be sent to countries that followed the non-refoulement rule. The United Nations refugee agency has presented evidence that Kigali broke the rule in an agreement with Israel.