What is the U.K. plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda?

London — The British parliament passed a law late Monday that will mean asylum seekers arriving on British shores without prior permission can be sent to Rwanda and forbidden from ever returning to the U.K. The British government says the law will act as deterrent to anyone trying to enter the U.K. "illegally."

The contentious program was voted through after the U.K.'s Supreme Court ruled it to be unlawful, and it has been condemned by human rights groups and the United Nations refugee agency.

King Charles III, who now must give the Rwanda bill his royal ascent to make it an official law, reportedly criticized the plan as "appalling" almost two years ago as it took shape.  

Hours after the law was passed, French officials said at least five people drowned, including a child, in the English Channel during an attempt to make it to the U.K. on an overcrowded small boat.

The Rwanda plan was put together by Britain's Conservative government in response to a number of migrant and asylum seeker arrivals on British shores in small boats from France.

With local asylum programs underfunded and overwhelmed, the government has been housing asylum seekers in hotels, where they are effectively trapped and unable to work until their claims are processed, which can take years. These hotels cost the government around 8 million pounds — almost $10 million in taxpayer money — every day to rent, according to CBS News partner BBC News.