British and Irish officials meet as tensions rise over what to do with asylum seekers

LONDON (AP) — British and Irish officials met Monday as tensions rise over the movement of asylum seekers from the U.K. to neighboring Ireland and Ireland’s proposal to send them back.

Irish premier Simon Harris said Sunday that Ireland will not “provide a loophole for anybody else’s migration challenges” after one of his ministers said more than 80% of asylum seekers entering Ireland now come across the land border from Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K.

Irish officials on Tuesday are expected to discuss emergency legislation for a new policy to “return” the migrants to the U.K. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he was not interested in any such deal and that his government will decide who is allowed to enter.

“We’re not going to accept returns from the EU via Ireland when the EU doesn’t accept returns back to France, where illegal migrants are coming from,” Sunak said Monday.