A deportation flight taking the first asylum seekers to Rwanda next week can go ahead, the High Court has ruled.
They will be the first migrants to be sent there to have their asylum claims processed since the government announced the controversial policy in April.
A judge refused to grant an injunction sought by campaigners to block the one-way flight to the east African country scheduled for next Tuesday.
However, the court also granted human rights groups permission to appeal the decision.
More than 30 people who arrived in the UK illegally are set to be on the plane to Rwanda, with the Home Office planning to schedule more flights this year.
Activists said the government plan was “not safe” and lawyers for nearly 100 migrants submitted legal challenges asking to stay.
The Home Office argues the deportation policy will deter people from making dangerous Channel crossings from France in flimsy small boats run by smugglers. Officials believe the removal plan is in the public interest and must not be stopped.
Welcoming the court ruling, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “We will not be deterred in breaking the deadly people smuggling trade and ultimately saving lives.”
She also insisted Rwanda is a “safe country and has previously been recognised for providing a safe haven for refugees”.
Up to 130 people have been notified they could be removed.
Two campaign groups – Detention Action and Care4Calais – joined the PCS Union and four individual asylum seekers bringing legal action against the Home Office.
The judge, Jonathan Swift, ruled against the claim and said: “I do not consider that the balance of convivence favours the grant of the generic relief.”
He added: “There is a material public interest in the Home Secretary being able to implement immigration decisions.”
In his ruling, he also denied interim relief to two people who face removal to Rwanda.
“I accept that the fact of removal to Rwanda will be onerous,” the judge went on.
The court heard the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, had a number of concerns about the asylum process in Rwanda, including discriminatory access to asylum – including for LGBT people – a lack of legal representation and interpreters, and difficulties in appealing.
In the first stage of legal action, brought today, Raza Husain QC, for the claimants, told the High Court: “The system is not safe. It is not that it is not safe after July, it is just not safe.
“You may be arbitrarily denied access to it. If you do get into it, there are concerns about the impartiality of the decision-making.”
The Home Office has said five other people who were due to be deported will not be sent to Rwanda after they had their removal directions cancelled.
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The court was also told that a second flight may be scheduled for Thursday, something the Home Office denied.
The High Court is due to hear a further challenge to the policy on Monday, brought by refugee charity Asylum Aid and supported by fellow campaign group Freedom From Torture.