U.K. government shares video of first migrant detentions under controversial Rwanda plan, calls it a milestone

London — The British government released video clips Wednesday of what it said were the first detentions of migrants in the country without permission under a highly controversial new program that aims to deport them to Rwanda. The plan, implemented by the country's ruling Conservative party, was approved by lawmakers last week after more than two years of political wrangling over its legality.

The video share online Wednesday by the Home Office, which oversees all law enforcement and immigration matters in the U.K., showed armed immigration officers taking handcuffed individuals from houses into waiting vans. All the individuals in the video, both the detainees and the officers, were heavily blurred to obscure their identities.

In a Wednesday statement, U.K. Home Secretary James Cleverly called the Rwanda policy "a pioneering response to the global challenge of illegal migration."