Officers have raided the homes of the first people to be deported to Rwanda.

It comes following the recent passing of the Safety of Rwanda Act, which declared the central African nation safe following concerns raised by the Supreme Court last year. A video released by the Home Office showed officers entering homes and bringing out people detained in handcuffs, before putting them in the back of secure vans.

Politics live:Polls set to open as local elections take place According to the government, "operational teams within the Home Office have been working at pace to safely and swiftly detain individuals in scope for relocation to Rwanda, with more activity due to be carried out in the coming weeks". The latest step in its plan came after a failed asylum seeker voluntarily chose to go to Kigali once their application to stay in the UK failed.

The Rwanda plan has been a major policy for the Conservative government since April 2022, but has faced repeated legal challenges. It is understood that women are among those detained.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said: "Our Rwanda partnership is a pioneering response to the global challenge of illegal migration, and we have worked tirelessly to introduce new, robust legislation to deliver it. "Our dedicated enforcement teams are working at pace to swiftly detain those who have no right to be here so we can get flights off the ground.

"This is a complex piece of work, but we remain absolutely committed to operationalising the policy, to stop the boats and break the business model of people smuggling gangs." The government has previously said it has 2,200 "detention spaces.