Home Office to detain UK asylum seekers in shock Rwanda move

Operations begin today to prepare for deportation flights

- Severin Carrell , Rajeev Syal , Aletha Adu

The Home Office will launch a major operation to detain asylum seekers across Britain today , weeks earlier than expected, in preparation for their deportation to Rwanda, the Guardian can reveal.

Officials plan to hold refugees who turn up for routine meetings at immigration service offices or bail appointments and will also pick people up nationwide in a surprise two-week exercise. Refugee rights campaigners and lawyers said the detentions risked provoking long legal battles, community protests and clashes with police - with officers in Scotland put on high alert.

Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said:

"The government is determined to recklessly pursue its inhumane Rwanda plan despite the cost, chaos and human misery it will unleash.

We know it is likely to cause a catastrophic system meltdown." Detainees will be immediately moved to detention centres, which have been prepared for the operation, and held until they are put on planes to Rwanda. Some will be put on the first flight due to take off this summer.

The Home Office said ratification of the prime minister's Safety of Rwanda Act meant "the government is entering the final phase of operationalising this landmark policy to tackle illegal migration and stop the boats". It added: "At some stage inevitably this will include detaining people in preparation for the first flight, which is set to take off to Rwanda in 10 to 12 weeks. It would be inappropriate to comment further on operational activity."

The start of the Home Office's detention operation, which had not been anticipated for weeks, coincides with Thursday's local council elections in England where the Tories face losing up to half the seats they currently hold.

Rishi Sunak said yesterday that cracking down on illegal immigration was central to the Tory campaign.