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First person removed to France under ‘one in, one out’ asylum deal, says UK First person removed to France under ‘one in, one out’ asylum deal, says UK
(30 minutes later)
Agreement reached with France allows for removal of asylum seekers who arrive on small boatsAgreement reached with France allows for removal of asylum seekers who arrive on small boats
UK politics live – latest updatesUK politics live – latest updates
The UK has returned the first asylum seeker to France under a “one in, one out” agreement to remove people who arrive on small boats, the Home Office has confirmed. The first Channel migrant has been deported to France under the controversial one in, one out deal, the Home Office has confirmed.
Keir Starmer and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, agreed the pilot scheme, under which Britain will deport to France undocumented people who arrived in small boats in return for accepting an equal number of legitimate asylum seekers with British family connections. It follows three days of cancellations of tickets of asylum seekers due to fly and a high court challenge that halted the imminent removal of a 25-year-old Eritrean man to France on Tuesday evening. He was granted more time to gather evidence relating to his claim that he is a victim of trafficking.
The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said: “This is an important first step to securing our borders. It sends a message to people crossing in small boats: if you enter the UK illegally, we will seek to remove you.The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said: “This is an important first step to securing our borders. It sends a message to people crossing in small boats: if you enter the UK illegally, we will seek to remove you.
“I will continue to challenge any last-minute, vexatious attempts to frustrate a removal in the courts. “I will continue to challenge any last-minute, vexatious attempts to frustrate a removal in the courts. The UK will always play its part in helping those genuinely fleeing persecution, but this must be done through safe, legal and managed routes, not dangerous crossings.”
“The UK will always play its part in helping those genuinely fleeing persecution, but this must be done through safe, legal, and managed routes – not dangerous crossings.” The UK-France treaty, which came into force on 6 August, allows the UK to detain and rapidly remove people who enter via small boats. In return, the UK will accept an equal number of people through a newly established safe and legal route, subject to security checks.
The Home Office will lodge an appeal on Thursday against the first legal challenge brought to the high court against a man’s deportation under the scheme. The Home Office said: “Today we will lodge an appeal to the court of appeal to limit the time the person has to provide evidence for reconsideration.”
The court granted an Eritrean man a “short period of interim relief” on Tuesday before his 9am flight to France on Wednesday, and gave him 14 days to make representations to support his claim that he was a victim of modern slavery. According to the Telegraph, the man removed on Thursday morning is from India and is believed to have been flown to Paris on an Air France flight. It is reported that he had threatened a legal challenge to his removal but this did not halt the removal.
More details soon … While countries such as Eritrea, Sudan and Syria, where many people arriving on small boats come from, have high asylum grant rates, asylum claims by Indians have a much lower grant rate.
The man is the first to be sent back out of about 100 Channel migrants detained by Border Force at the start of last month.
For the first three days of this week, everyone due to fly had their tickets cancelled, in many cases due to legal challenges.
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It is understood, according to the Telegraph, that the French requested an Indian migrant as it means they will offer him voluntary return to his homeland, where the government pays the air fare and offers €2,500. If the man does not accept voluntary return, he will face forced removal from France.
According to a leaflet given to detainees for France by the Home Office, accommodation in France will be offered “for the first days of your arrival. Options offered to new arrivals include financial assistance if you choose to return to your country of origin.”