The UK’s proposed anti-immigration bill sparked significant condemnation as it put human rights at risk.
The controversial bill grants asylum seekers different rights based on whether they arrived in the country legally or illegally.
The Nationality and Borders Bill will make it harder for asylum seekers to have their applications accepted.
The bill will also enable removing “illegal” asylum seekers’ claims if accepted and restriction of benefits and family reunion.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has defended the bill as “the biggest overhaul of the UK’s asylum system in decades.”
Patel said that the legislation “delivers on what the British people have voted for time and time again – for the UK to take full control of its borders.”
However, the bill has been widely condemned by rights advocates and human rights groups who have long called on the government to increase safe and legal routes to stop people making treacherous journeys in rubber boats.
Sonya Sceats, CEO of the charity Freedom from Torture, described it as “dripping with cruelty.”
The bill would give the government the power to block visas and impose additional financial requirements on people coming from countries it believes are not cooperating in taking back asylum seekers whose claims have been rejected or people convicted of a crime.
Iraq, Iran, Eritrea, and Sudan are believed to be the countries that are reluctant to work with the UK, reports the Guardian.
