Aladeen, who is being held in a detention centre in southern England, claims he risked his life by travelling hundreds of miles from his native country of Syria to avoid being forced to fight in President Bashar al-Assad’s military.
Now, the 21-year-old is fighting to stay in the UK and escape being deported to Rwanda, where the British government wants to send migrants who arrive illegally on its beaches.
‘It’s the end of the world for me, I can’t imagine it,’ he said over the phone through an interpreter, declining to disclose his full name while his asylum application is being processed.
Aladeen is one of roughly 130 migrants who were initially offered a ticket to Rwanda but are now in legal limbo as the British government struggles to regulate its borders and handle voters’ post-Brexit migration wishes.
He is one of over 20,000 migrants who have undertaken the perilous 20-mile trek from France to Britain this year on small boats over the English Channel, navigating one of the world’s busiest shipping channels.
In early September, a combination of human rights organisations and a labour union will argue in London’s High Court that Rwanda’s policy is impracticable and unethical.
Governments around the world are debating how to handle an inflow of migrants fleeing war-torn countries or persecution in their home countries. Britain is the latest government to try to outsource asylum seeker settlement.
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