Rwanda migrants stripped of their smartphones and given ‘brick’ telephones

Migrants who are being taken to removal centres before their flights to Rwanda are having smartphones taken away and replaced with ‘brick’ phones.

The system has been put in place to stop asylum seekers accessing saved contacts and their WhatsApp messages, as well as internet access.

It is believed the move will limit the chances of migrants being able to find out information about charities or law firms that could help them appeal against their detention.

However, charities such as Care4Calais have attempted to get around the rules by handing out leaflets to illegal migrants that include contact details including phone numbers so detainees can still contact them.

Despite the ban more than 120 asylum seekers have contacted charities who are forwarding them on to lawyers who could help them launch legal challenges, The Telegraph reports.

A migrant is taken into custody by immigration officials ahead of the first deportation flights to Rwanda

A Border Force patrol vessel brings a group of migrants found in the English Channel ashore in the Port of Dover on April 29

An inflatable dinghy carrying a group of migrants wearing lifejackets travels through the water in the English Channel on Saturday

It is claimed that those who do appeal will try to obtain bail and argue that deporting them to Rwanda puts them in harms way.

The boss of one refugee charity has hit out at the ban on smartphones, arguing that it ‘degrades’ the ability of detainees to communicate as they are unable to access their contacts list.

Steve Smith, chief executive of Care4Calais, told The Telegraph: ‘They cannot perform a search function to track down those who might help them, such as charities like ourselves, or law firms.

‘They become isolated from the latest news. For example, they won’t hear about protests in their support.’

He added that brick phones do not work in non-English languages, making it difficult for people who only speak Arabic to communicate as their is no translate function which ‘isolates the detainee’.

Mr Smith said: ‘Their level of distress cannot be overemphasised. The removal of their smartphones is simply adding to the sense of shock and trauma.’

A spokesperson for the Home Office told MailOnline: ‘The first illegal migrants set to be removed to Rwanda have now been detained by highly trained teams, following a series of nationwide operations this week.

‘We take the welfare of people in our care extremely seriously. There are robust safeguarding measures in place to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and has the support they need.

‘All detained individuals have access to a mobile phone, internet and landline telephones so they can keep in contact with friends, family and other support.’

Yolande Makolo, a spokeswoman for the east African state, told the BBC today that while it expected to receive ‘thousands’ their arrival would be staggered.

She had earlier claimed there was a ‘misconception’ that Rwanda was only prepared to take 200 initial migrants, telling the BBC: ‘Journalists have been visiting the initial accommodation that we have secured since the beginning of the partnership. This is Hope Hostel (pictured). That particular facility is able to take up to 200 people.’

The Prime Minister believes if he gets deportation flights to Rwanda off the ground it could boost his popularity 

It comes as the Rwandan government refused to guarantee how many migrants it will take from the UK under Rishi Sunak’s flagship deportation scheme.

Yolande Makolo, a spokeswoman for the east African state, told the BBC on Sunday that while it expected to receive ‘thousands’ their arrival would be staggered.

Asked by Laura Kuenssberg if Rwanda would be able to process tens of thousands of migrants as part of the deal, Ms Makolo said: ‘We will be able to welcome the migrants that the UK sends over the lifetime of this partnership.

‘What I cannot tell you is how many thousands we are taking in the first year or the second year. This will depend on very many factors that are being worked out right now.’

She had earlier claimed there was a ‘misconception’ that Rwanda was only prepared to take 200 initial migrants, telling the BBC: ‘Journalists have been visiting the initial accommodation that we have secured since the beginning of the partnership. This is Hope Hostel. That particular facility is able to take up to 200 people.

‘However, we have already started initial discussions with other facilities around Kigali and further afield and these will be firmed up and signed once we know how many migrants are coming and when they are coming.

‘So it has never been the case that we can only take 200 initially, that has been a misconception.’

Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden said if the party was in power it would spend the cash set aside for the Rwanda scheme on ‘a proper operation to crack down on the criminal gangs’.

A PA news agency fact check found payments to the Rwandan government as part of the deal would add up to £490 million by the end of the 2026/27 financial year, should a milestone of 300 migrants sent to Rwanda be reached.

PA found Labour’s claim that the scheme would cost £2 million per migrant to be mostly true, with the price tag decreasing substantially if many more were deported to Rwanda.

Mr McFadden said Labour believed the Government ‘will get flights off’ but did not believe the scheme would provide ‘value for money for the taxpayer’.

He also said he doubted Labour would work to return migrants to the UK from Rwanda should they form the next government.