The British Home Office is dealing with growing fallout from the high-profile roundups of asylum seekers it wants to send to Rwanda, as some have gone into hiding while others have fled across the border to Ireland.

Officials began rounding up asylum seekers to detain them for the Rwanda scheme a week ago, with at least one now on hunger strike and another threatening suicide, the Guardian reported. 

While the government has disseminated its message widely about detaining people for Rwanda, it is not clear whether officials had anticipated that some asylum seekers would go into hiding and others would go to Ireland.

Lou Calvey, the director of the charity Asylum Matters, said: “Frontline asylum charities report people leaving their asylum accommodation in order to avoid arrest. They are raising the alarm about the increasing risks of destitution and exploitation.”

Asylum seekers who have attended regular reporting sessions at centers around the UK have said that they had never seen things so quiet.