Rwanda did not receive any funding to sign new asylum treaty, says James Cleverly

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1 year ago

December 5, 2023

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Rwanda has not received any additional funding for the new treaty it has signed to revive the UK government’s asylum plan, the home secretary has said.

James Cleverly told a press conference in the Rwandan capital of Kigali: “Let me make it clear. The Rwandan government has not asked for and we have not provided any funding linked to the signing of this treaty.”

However, Mr Cleverly added that while Rwanda did not ask for money specifically for the treaty, “dealing with migration” was not a “cost-free option”.

“The financial arrangement which inevitably comes as part of an international agreement reflects the costs that may be imposed on Rwanda through the changes that this partnership has created in their systems: in their legal systems and their institutions,” he said.

“No money was asked for by the Rwandans for this treaty. No money was provided to the Rwandans for this treaty.

“Dealing with migration is important and it is not a cost-free option, but we regard it as the right thing to do.”

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Mr Cleverly was responding to questions about reports Rwanda was in line for an additional £15m to secure the treaty – on top of the £140m that has already been committed to the scheme by the UK government.

Under the Rwanda plan, people who arrive in the UK by unauthorised means would be sent to the African country while their asylum claim is processed.

On arrival, people could be granted refugee status and allowed to stay, or apply for sanctuary in another “safe third country”.

The policy has formed a core part of the government’s strategy to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel in the hope it will act as a deterrent.

However, it has been forced to sign the new treaty today after the Supreme Court ruled that the policy was “unlawful” because there was a chance people sent there could be returned to another country where they were at risk of persecution under a process known as “refoulement”, in what would be a breach of international law.

Rwanda ‘very much committed’ to deal

After signing the new treaty today, Mr Cleverly told the press conference he felt “very strongly” that the deal “addresses all the issues raised by the Supreme Court”.

“We’ve addressed the issues that were raised by their Lordships in this treaty and that will be reflected in domestic legislation soon because we are absolutely committed to breaking the business model of these people smuggling gangs, to create a safe and welcoming environment with our friends and partners here in Rwanda, but also making sure that mass migration is well-managed into the future,” he said.

Rwanda’s foreign affairs minister Vincent Biruta, sitting alongside Mr Cleverly, said he believed his country had been “unfairly treated” by the courts, international organisations and the media.

But he said his country was “very much committed” to the asylum deal and would remain on board with it even in the event of further setbacks and delays.

“This is the reason why we worked with our colleagues from the UK to address the concerns of the UK Supreme Court,” Mr Biruta said.

He added that while some elements could still be adjusted, “we are committed to the partnership and we don’t have a plan to withdraw from this cooperation”.

Number 10 moves to clarify fears over family visa salary cap

Mr Cleverly’s visit to Rwanda came just a day after the government launched separate measures to cut legal migration to the UK after recent statistics showed net migration at a record high of 745,000 in 2022.

In a five-point plan outlined in the Commons yesterday, Mr Cleverly said the government would introduce a ban on care workers bringing their families over to the UK and raise the minimum salary required for a skilled worker visa to £38,700 from next spring.

The minimum threshold for a family visa will also be raised to £38,700 to “ensure people only bring dependants whom they can support financially”. Currently, it stands at the 2012 rate of £18,600.

The increase in salary threshold has sparked concerns that British citizens who are poorer will no longer be able to live with their foreign partners in the UK.

Downing Street sought to assuage the concerns by saying that the minimum income of £38,700 was for a “household as a whole”.

A Number 10 spokesman also said that Britons earning less than £38,700 could still live with their foreign spouses in the UK in “exceptional circumstances”.

“That is just one way that people can demonstrate their ability to support a dependant,” the prime minister’s official spokesman explained. “They can also demonstrate this through their level of savings.”

“If you don’t meet the minimum income requirement, you may also be able to bring a dependant to the UK if you get certain benefits, for example, disability living allowance,” the spokesman added.

Politics

Samourai Wallet, feds ask for time to mull dropping crypto mixer case

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2 hours ago

April 29, 2025

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Samourai Wallet, feds ask for time to mull dropping crypto mixer case

US federal prosecutors and the co-founders of the crypto mixer Samourai Wallet have asked a court for more time to consider potentially dismissing the case after the Justice Department rolled back its crypto enforcement.

Lawyers for Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez and chief technology officer William Hill said in an April 28 letter to Manhattan federal judge Richard Berman that they jointly requested with the government “for a continuance of the pretrial motions schedule by 16 days.”

The Samourai executives’ lawyers said on April 10 that they wrote to Acting Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton to request the dismissal of the case after an April 7 memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche shuttered the Justice Department’s crypto team.

“On April 24, 2025, defense counsel met with the prosecutors and their supervisors in person at the U.S. Attorney’s Office to discuss this request,” the lawyers said.

“The Defendants believe that a continuance of the pretrial motions schedule is warranted to permit Defendants to avoid the significant expense of preparing their motions while the Government determines its position,” the letter stated.

It added that prosecutors agreed to adjourn “without expressing any views on the merits.”

Samourai Wallet’s Rodriguez and Hill were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business in April 2024, to which they both pleaded not guilty.

Blanche’s memo said, “The Department of Justice is not a digital assets regulator,” and it would abandon enforcement and investigations besides those which “focus on prosecuting individuals who victimize digital asset investors, or those who use digital assets in furtherance of criminal offenses.”

Currently, motions in the Samourai executives’ case are due May 13, responses are due on June 10, and replies on June 24. The letter proposes to put this back to May 29 for motions, June 26 for responses, and July 10 for replies.

The continuance would not affect the trial date, which is slated for early November.

Quashing crypto litigation list lengthens

The move is the latest in a long list of court actions to have prosecutors’ crypto cases quashed under the Trump administration’s favorable stance toward the industry.

On April 9, SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony, who is charged with wire fraud and money laundering, cited Blanche’s directive in a bid to get his case dismissed.

Meanwhile, on April 28, the DeFi Education Fund petitioned the White House to drop charges against Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm and requested immediate action to “discontinue the Biden-era Department of Justice’s lawless campaign to criminalize open-source software development.”

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Crypto group asks Trump to end prosecution of crypto devs, Roman Storm

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4 hours ago

April 29, 2025

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Crypto group asks Trump to end prosecution of crypto devs, Roman Storm

The crypto lobby group, the DeFi Education Fund, has petitioned the Trump administration to end what it claimed was the “lawless prosecution” of open-source software developers, including Roman Storm, a creator of the crypto mixing service Tornado Cash.

In an April 28 letter to White House crypto czar David Sacks, the group urged President Donald Trump “to take immediate action to discontinue the Biden-era Department of Justice’s lawless campaign to criminalize open-source software development.”

The letter specifically mentioned the prosecution of Storm, who was charged in August 2023 with helping launder over $1 billion in crypto through Tornado Cash. His trial is still set for July, and his fellow charged co-founder, Roman Semenov, is at large and believed to be in Russia.

The DeFi Education Fund said that in Storm’s case, the Department of Justice is attempting to hold software developers criminally liable for how others use their code, which is “not only absurd in principle, but it sets a precedent that potentially chills all crypto development in the United States.”

The group also called for the recognition that the prosecution contradicts the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) guidance from Trump’s first term, which established that developers of self-custodial, peer-to-peer protocols are not money transmitters.

“This kind of legal environment does not just chill innovation — it freezes it,” they argued. The letter added that it also “empowers politically-motivated enforcement and puts every open-source developer at risk, regardless of industry.”

In January, a federal court in Texas ruled that the Treasury overstepped its authority by sanctioning Tornado Cash.

Stakes could not be higher

The group thanked Trump for his support of the industry and his stated goal to make America the “crypto capital of the planet.”

They added, however, that his goal can’t be realized if developers are prosecuted for building tools that enable the technology.

“We ask President Trump to protect American software developers, restore legal clarity, and end this unlawful DOJ overreach. The job’s not finished, and the stakes could not be higher.”

Variant Fund chief legal officer Jake Chervinsky said the Justice Department’s case against Storm is “an outdated remnant of the Biden administration’s war on crypto.”

“There is no justification in law or policy for prosecuting software developers for launching non-custodial smart contract protocols,” he added.

At the time of writing, the petition had attracted 232 signatures from industry executives and developers, including Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, and Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko, among others.

Magazine: Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF’s mysterious prison move: Hodler’s Digest

Politics

Sex offenders to be denied refugee status under plans to improve women’s safety

Published

7 hours ago

April 29, 2025

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Sex offenders to be denied refugee status under plans to improve women's safety

Migrants convicted of sex offences in the UK or overseas will be unable to claim asylum under government plans to change the law to improve border security.

The Home Office announcement means foreign nationals who are added to the sex offenders register will forfeit their rights to protection under the Refugee Convention.

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As part of the 1951 UN treaty, countries are allowed to refuse asylum to terrorists, war criminals and individuals convicted of a “particularly serious crime” – which is currently defined in UK law as an offence carrying a sentence of 12 months or more.

The government now plans to extend that definition to include all individuals added to the Sex Offenders’ Register, regardless of the length of sentence, in an amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which is currently going through parliament. It’s understood they also hope to include those convicted of equivalent crimes overseas.

Those affected will still be able to appeal their removal from the UK in the courts under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

It is unclear how many asylum seekers will be affected, as the government has been unable to provide any projections or past data on the number of asylum seekers added to the Sex Offenders’ Register.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Sex offenders who pose a risk to the community should not be allowed to benefit from refugee protections in the UK.

“We are strengthening the law to ensure these appalling crimes are taken seriously.”

Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls Minister Jess Philips said: “We are determined to achieve our mission of halving violence against women and girls in a decade.

“That’s exactly why we are taking action to ensure there are robust safeguards across the system, including by clamping down on foreign criminals who commit heinous crimes like sex offences.”

The Home Office would like voters to see this as a substantial change. But that’s hard to demonstrate without providing any indication of the scale of the problem it seeks to solve.

Clearly, the government does not want to fan the flames of resentment towards asylum seekers by implying large numbers have been committing sex crimes.

But amid rising voter frustration about the government’s grip on the issue, and under pressure from Reform – this measure is about signalling it is prepared to take tough action.

Conservatives: ‘Too little, too late’

The Conservatives claim Labour are engaged in “pre-election posturing”.

Chris Philp MP, the shadow home secretary, said: “This is too little, too late from a Labour government that has scrapped our deterrent and overseen the worst year ever for small boat crossings – with a record 10,000 people crossing this year already.

“Foreign criminals pose a danger to British citizens and must be removed, but so often this is frustrated by spurious legal claims based on human rights claims, not asylum claims.”

The Home Office has also announced plans to introduce a 24-week target for appeal hearings (known as “first-tier tribunals”) to be held for rejected asylum seekers living in taxpayer-supported accommodation, or for foreign national offenders.

The current average wait is 50 weeks. The idea is to cut the asylum backlog and save taxpayers money – Labour have committed to end the use of asylum hotels by the end of this parliament.

It’s unclear how exactly this will be achieved, although a number of additional court days have already been announced.

The government also plans to crack down on fake immigration lawyers who advise migrants on how to lodge fraudulent asylum claims, with the Immigration Advice Authority given new powers to issue fines of up to £15,000.