The UK authorities deported yesterday Monday a first asylum seeker in Rwandaas part of a controversial, voluntary program for immigrants whose applications are rejected, British media reported.

The British parliament last week adopted a law that is strongly criticized, as it provides for the deportation to Rwanda of immigrants who arrive on the country’s territory illegally.

The Conservative government under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to begin mass deportations under the law in July.

But yesterday, a man who agreed to go to Rwanda after his asylum claim was rejected late last year was deported from Britain, British press reports said.

The man, a national of an African country, traveled on a commercial flight, the media said.

He agreed to be deported to Rwanda in return for a one-off payment of up to £3,000, government sources told The Times newspaper.

When contacted by AFP, the interior ministry declined to confirm the information.

“We are now able to send asylum seekers to Rwanda under our agreement on migration and economic development,” a government spokesman said.

“This deal allows people who do not have permission to stay in the UK to be relocated to a safe third country where they are helped to rebuild their lives,” the source added.

The Tory government said yesterday it plans to deport 5,700 asylum seekers to Rwanda “by the end of the year” after the controversial law, which was drafted in theory to discourage illegal Channel crossings, was passed.

They were chosen from more than 57,000 people who entered Britain illegally, where they arrived by crossing the English Channel, between January 2022 and June 2023, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.