Home Office Staffers Compare UK to Third Reich as They Protest Against Rwanda Migrant Deal - Media

The Home Secretary is under fire from UK opposition leaders and refugee organisations over the London-Kigali deal to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, as part of the British government’s plan to tackle soaring numbers of illegal immigrants being trafficked across the English Channel from mainland Europe.

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel may face a “mutiny” in her own department as some staff are threatening to strike over the much-criticised Rwanda asylum deal, according to comments on an internal online noticeboard disclosed by The Daily Mail.

One Home Office employee said that they “find the government proposal totally unethical and it impacts directly upon” their “workstream”. The worker added, “As a civil servant, can I refuse this type of work in contravention of my own ethics?”

Another staffer wrote that they have worked for the Home Office for 20 years and “there’s been some ups and downs in that time”.

“But this announcement has made me feel deep shame and is the first time I am considering my position here and whether I need to get out of this department,” the employee added.

Another staff member wondered whether “the permanent secretary and seniors” can “give staff any advice on coping with our conscience with these sort of policies”. According to the staffer, “I don’t feel safe telling people I work for the Home Office anymore and now just make up a nondescript role in another government department when asked what I do for a job”.

A separate staffer drew a comparison to serving in WWII-time Germany and referred to the 1945-1949 Nazi trials at Nuremberg. “The words ‘I was only obeying orders’ are echoing down through history to me and making me queasy,” the employee noted.

The comments come a few days after Patel along with Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta defended the new asylum deal as an effective way to tackle people-smuggling.

“We are taking bold and innovative steps and it's surprising that those institutions that criticise the plans fail to offer their own solutions. Allowing this suffering to continue is no longer an option for any humanitarian nation,” the two wrote in a piece for The Times.

Rwanda Asylum Deal

Patel signed the deal that stipulates an initial down-payment of £120m ($157 million) to the Rwandan government in Kigali, the country’s capital, last week.

Under the agreement, adult migrants who have arrived in the UK seeking sanctuary since January would be flown to Rwanda, with the rule not applicable to children and their parents.

After asylum claims have been processed within a period of three months, those successful would be able to stay in the East African country for at least five years. It was assured that they would be provided with a training and support package. The Daily Mail cited unnamed sources as saying that the first flight to Rwanda is expected before the end of next month.

The deal was inked in sync with the UK government's so-called "New Plan for Immigration" which aims to stem the escalating migrant crisis in Britain. More than 5,000 have already arrived in the UK by small boat crossings since the start of this year, according to the latest government estimates.