UK Parliament approves Rwanda deportation bill, ending weeks of legislative stalemate

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak 's latest effort to send some migrants to Rwanda finally won approval from Parliament early Tuesday, hours after he pledged deportation flights would begin in July.

The parliamentary logjam that had stalled the legislation for two months was finally broken just after midnight when the unelected House of Lords “recognized the primacy” of the elected House of Commons and dropped the last of its proposed amendments, clearing the way for the bill to become law.

Earlier in the day, Sunak held a rare morning press conference to demand that the Lords stop blocking his key proposal for ending the tide of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, promising that both houses of Parliament would remain in session until it was approved.

The legislative stalemate was just the latest hurdle to delay implementation of a plan that has been repeatedly blocked by a series of court rulings and opposition from human rights activists who say it is illegal and inhumane. Migrant advocates have vowed to continue the fight against it.

“For almost two years, our opponents have used every trick in the book to block fights and keep the votes coming,” Sunak told reporters Monday morning in London. “But enough is enough. No more prevarication, no more delay.”

The government plans to deport to Rwanda some of those who enter the United Kingdom illegally as a deterrent to migrants who risk their lives in leaky, inflatable boats in hopes that they will be able to claim asylum once they reach Britain.

Despite Parliament's approval of the legislation, further court challenges may still delay the deportation flights, said Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London.

“I don’t think it is necessarily home and dry,” he said. “We will see some attempts to block deportations legally.”

Sunak has staked his political future to the deportation flights, making a pledge to “stop the boats” a key part of his pitch to voters as opinion polls show that his Conservative Party trails far behind the Labour Party ahead of a general election later this year. Next week’s local elections are seen as a barometer for how the parties will fare in the general election.

The debate in Britain comes as countries throughout Western Europe and North America look for ways to slow the rising number of migrants as war, climate change and political oppression force people from their homes.

Small boat crossings are a potent political issue in Britain, where they are seen as evidence of the government’s failure to control immigration.

The number of migrants arriving in Britain on small boats soared to 45,774 in 2022 from just 299 four years earlier as people seeking refuge pay criminal gangs thousands of pounds to ferry them across the channel.

Last year, small boat arrivals dropped to 29,437 as the government cracked down on people smugglers and reached an agreement to return Albanians to their home country.

“I think the most important takeaway is quite how desperate the government clearly is to get this piece of legislation through on the grounds that it will enable it to at least make a down payment on its promise to stop the boats,” Bale said.

While Sunak acknowledged that he wouldn’t meet his original deadline of getting the first deportation flights in the air this spring, he blamed the delays on continued resistance from the opposition Labour Party.

On Monday, Sunak said the first flights would take off in 10-12 weeks but refused to provide details about how many people would be deported or exactly when the flights would occur because he said that information could help opponents continue to try to frustrate the policy.

In preparation for the bill’s approval, the government has already chartered planes for the deportation flights, increased detention space, hired more immigration caseworkers and freed up court space to handle appeals, Sunak said.

He also suggested the government was prepared to ignore the European Court of Human Rights if it sought to block the deportations.

“We are ready, plans are in place, and these flights will go come what may,” Sunak said. “No foreign court will stop us from getting flights off.”

The current legislation, known as the Safety of Rwanda Bill, is a response to a U.K. Supreme Court decision that blocked the deportation flights because the government couldn’t guarantee the safety of migrants sent to Rwanda. After signing a new treaty with Rwanda to beef up protections for migrants, the government proposed the new legislation declaring Rwanda to be a safe country.

The bill has been stalled in the idiosyncrasies of the British legislative system. The House of Lords is charged with scrutinizing and offering amendments to measures approved by the House of Commons, but it doesn’t have the power to block legislation outright.

As a result, the Rwanda bill bounced back and forth between the two houses of Parliament, with the Lords repeatedly offering amendments only for them to be rejected by the Commons, which then sent the legislation back to the upper house.

Critics of the government’s policy refused to be drawn on their next move. James Wilson, the director of Detention Action, which campaigns against human rights abuses in the immigration system, urged the public to look past the political stalemate and remember what is at stake.

“Ultimately, the most important points here are not the ins and outs of Parliament, and the things that are happening there,'' he told The Associated Press. "In the end, this is about people. This is about people’s lives.”

Follow AP’s global migration coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/migration

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, center, speaks next to Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, second from left, and Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, third from right, during an Illegal Migration Operations Committee meeting, at Downing Street, in London, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a press conference at Downing Street in London, Monday, April 22, 2024. Sunak pledged Monday that the country’s first deportation flights to Rwanda could leave in 10-12 weeks as he promised to end the Parliamentary deadlock over a key policy promise before an election expected later this year. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a press conference at Downing Street in London, Monday, April 22, 2024. Sunak pledged Monday that the country’s first deportation flights to Rwanda could leave in 10-12 weeks as he promised to end the Parliamentary deadlock over a key policy promise before an election expected later this year. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a press conference at Downing Street in London, Monday, April 22, 2024. Sunak pledged Monday that the country’s first deportation flights to Rwanda could leave in 10-12 weeks as he promised to end the Parliamentary deadlock over a key policy promise before an election expected later this year. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a press conference at Downing Street in London, Monday, April 22, 2024. Sunak pledged Monday that the country’s first deportation flights to Rwanda could leave in 10-12 weeks as he promised to end the Parliamentary deadlock over a key policy promise before an election expected later this year. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a press conference at Downing Street in London, Monday, April 22, 2024. Sunak pledged Monday that the country’s first deportation flights to Rwanda could leave in 10-12 weeks as he promised to end the Parliamentary deadlock over a key policy promise before an election expected later this year. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

British Home Secretary James Cleverly, left, and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps attend a press conference by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Downing Street, in London, Monday, April 22, 2024. Sunak pledged Monday that the country’s first deportation flights to Rwanda could leave in 10-12 weeks as he promised to end the Parliamentary deadlock over a key policy promise before an election expected later this year. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attends a press conference at Downing Street, in London, Monday, April 22, 2024. Sunak pledged Monday that the country’s first deportation flights to Rwanda could leave in 10-12 weeks as he promised to end the Parliamentary deadlock over a key policy promise before an election expected later this year. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks at a press conference at Downing Street, in London, Monday, April 22, 2024. Sunak pledged Monday that the country’s first deportation flights to Rwanda could leave in 10-12 weeks as he promised to end the Parliamentary deadlock over a key policy promise before an election expected later this year. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, right, and the President of Rwanda Paul Kagame pose for the media, ahead of their meeting inside 10 Downing Street in London, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, Pool)

DENVER (AP) — Valeri Nichushkin is lifting the Colorado Avalanche after taking the time to help himself.

The hard-charging, fast-moving Russian forward was gone for nearly two months of the regular season as he received care from the NHLPA/NHL Player Assistance Program for issues that were not disclosed. This was on the heels of missing the final five games of a playoff loss last season for what the team explained as personal reasons.

When he is on the ice, Nichushkin is a goal-scoring force. Especially come playoff time, where he just had seven over five games in a first-round series win against the Winnipeg Jets. In Colorado’s 2022 Stanley Cup title run, he was third on the team with nine goals.

“Val is a beast,” said new Colorado addition Casey Mittelstadt, whose team will face either Dallas or Vegas in the second round. “An absolute beast.”

This version in particular, the one that’s “doing really well,” from a mental health standpoint, coach Jared Bednar said.

Nichushkin was unavailable to the team from Jan. 13 to Mar. 7. The 29-year-old became the second Avalanche player to enter the program this season, following defenseman Samuel Girard, who said in November that anxiety and depression led to alcohol abuse. Girard returned in mid-December.

Since his return, Nichushkin has been hard to stop, no matter what line he’s on. Lately, he's been paired with Nathan MacKinnon, who's in the running for the Hart Trophy, and Mikko Rantanen.

Nichushkin's seven goals in the first round were tied for the most in a playoff series in franchise history. He joins the company of Rantanen (2023 first round), Hall of Famer Joe Sakic (1996 conference quarterfinals) and Réal Cloutier (1982 division finals).

“He’s doing great. He really is,” Bednar said of Nichushkin. “You want guys to be in good mental health and taking care of themselves, and he’s doing that.

“To be fair, he was playing really well when he wasn’t in great mental health. But I just think for long-term sustainability, you want your guys feeling great and at ease away from the rink. You want them to be having fun when they’re coming to the rink and they’ll be more productive. He’s certainly doing that.”

One thing Nichushkin doesn’t do much of is talk. He avoids interviews as much as he can, preferring to let his play do his speaking.

“He’s playing great. It’s huge for everybody — for himself and for us,” forward Andrew Cogliano said. “It’s good to see someone that obviously had some struggles and was able to get through it and come out on the other side and play amazing.”

In a first-round playoff series last spring against Seattle, Nichushkin abruptly left the team with only the explanation that it was for personal reasons. His absence started after officers responded to a crisis call at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle before Game 3. A 28-year-old woman was in an ambulance when officers arrived, and medics were told to speak with an Avalanche team physician to gather more details.

The report, obtained at the time from the Seattle Police Department by The Associated Press, said the Avalanche physician told officers that team employees found the woman when they were checking on Nichushkin. The physician told officers the woman appeared to be heavily intoxicated, too intoxicated to have left the hotel “in a ride share or cab service,” and requested EMS assistance.

Before the season, Nichushkin brushed aside questions about the situation, saying only, “I know you guys want to find something there but it’s nothing really interesting. I think we should close it.”

Despite playing in just 54 games, he finished with a career-high 28 goals in the regular season. He also recorded his first career hat trick in Game 4 against the Jets, with cap after cap hitting the ice at Ball Arena.

“We all know what a great player he is,” said teammate Artturi Lehkonen, who scored a goal in all five games of the Winnipeg series. “It’s hard to stop the big man.”

At 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, Nichushkin is a punishing presence who also generates plenty of speed. He’s hard to move, too, when he camps out in front of the net. He has three power-play goals, which is tied for the most in the playoffs this season.

"Rock solid in almost every area of the game,” Bednar said. “Players like that, you can’t even describe what they bring to the team.”

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Colorado Avalanche's Mikko Rantanen (96) celebrates his goal with Valeri Nichushkin (13) and Nathan MacKinnon (29) during the third period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Colorado Avalanche's Mikko Rantanen (96) celebrates his goal with Valeri Nichushkin (13) and Nathan MacKinnon (29) during the third period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Colorado Avalanche Valeri Nichushkin (13) scores on Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) during the first period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tuesday April 30, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)

Colorado Avalanche right wing Valeri Nichushkin, foreground shoots the puck past Winnipeg Jets defenseman Neal Pionk, left, and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck for a goal during the third period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series Friday, April 26, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, left, stops a shot by Colorado Avalanche right wing Valeri Nichushkin during the third period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series Friday, April 26, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Avalanche's Valeri Nichushkin (13) celebrates his goal against the Winnipeg Jets during the first period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tuesday April 30, 2024. (Fred Greenslade/The Canadian Press via AP)