Democracy Dies in Darkness

Opinion How rich countries are testing extreme measures to keep out asylum seekers

We have to reform policies — but also change the way we think about migration as a whole.

By
Columnist and editorial board member|
May 9, 2024 at 6:45 a.m. EDT
A tent belonging to an asylum seeker is seen outside the International Protection Office, an immigration processing facility in Dublin, on April 30. (Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)
6 min

Britain’s Conservative government hopes to drive a stake through the post-World War II consensus that persecuted people around the world must be granted the right to asylum.

Under a bill that passed Parliament in April, asylum seekers who arrive in Britain by irregular means — in a dinghy across the channel from France, for example — will be summarily sent to Rwanda, where officials in Kigali will assess their claim and, if granted, offer asylum in the Central African country.