Former refugee child and Labor colleague Alf Dubs said the ministers will face opposition in the House of Lords over the plan unveiled this week by Home Secretary Priti Patel and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Lord Dubs said the government was trying to “break” international agreements.
He said: “I think this is a way to get rid of people who are not wanted by the government, throw them into a distant African country, and they will not have a chance to get out of there again.
“I think this is a violation of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Conventions. You can’t just shunt them like unwanted people.”
It has been learned that Ms. Patel took the rare step of issuing a ministerial order to allay public officials’ concerns about whether the concept would deliver value for money.
As part of a plan to deter migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, those deemed to have entered the UK illegally from January 1 could be sent to Rwanda, where they will be allowed to apply for asylum in the African country.
According to reports, the interior minister’s alleged use of ministerial leadership was only the second exercise of power in the interior ministry in the past 30 years.
The Interior Ministry declined to comment on the matter.
Speaking on Saturday, Shadow Prisons Minister Ellie Reeves said: “The UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency) has very, very strongly condemned the government’s proposals, as have many organizations, and it appears that the government’s own civil servants have expressed huge misgivings about the plans that seem completely wrong.”
The Labor politician said: “The government is going to pay £120 million upfront before asylum seekers are sent to Rwanda.
“Asylum seekers say this will not deter them from crossing the English Channel.
“We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, so it doesn’t seem right to spend money on an unethical and unworkable scheme that won’t keep people from coming.”
But Ms Patel said Denmark could be among those to replicate the UK government’s “plan”.
“Now there is no doubt that the model we proposed is, I am convinced, world class and the first in the world, and it will be used as a plan in the future, there is no doubt about that,” Ms. Patel said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if other countries also start contacting us directly against this backdrop.”
The interior minister said that Copenhagen was also in talks with Rwanda, adding that the Council of Europe “has also basically stated that it is interested in cooperating with us.”
The Home Office denied that its approach violated the refugee agreements. Lord Dubs, who came to the UK from what was then Czechoslovakia on one of the Kindertransport trains in 1939, said there would be legal problems and peer opposition.