Eritrean man is second to be deported to France under UK’s ‘one in, one out’ deal
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Version 0 of 2. Home Office confirms man left Heathrow for Paris early on Friday after losing high court bid to block move An Eritrean man has been deported to France under the UK government’s “one in, one out” deal with the neighbouring country. The man – the second to be deported under the agreement – was on a flight that left Heathrow for Paris at 6.15am on Friday, the Home Office confirmed after he lost a high court attempt to block the move. This is in exchange for those who apply in France and are approved to come to Britain. The first person to be removed under the agreement – an Indian national who arrived in the UK by small boat in August – was put on a flight to France on Thursday morning. It will come as a relief to the government amid pressure to tackle the small boats crisis, with Donald Trump on Thursday suggesting Keir Starmer should use the military to stop illegal migration. The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said the first return showed people crossing the Channel that “if you enter the UK illegally, we will seek to remove you”. She said she would “continue to challenge any last-minute, vexatious attempts to frustrate a removal in the courts”. The returns agreement had faced growing scrutiny after reports of flights for removals being cancelled earlier this week. Another Eritrean man successfully asked the high court on Tuesday to temporarily block his deportation after the judge found there was a “serious issue to be tried” over whether his removal was lawful amid claims he had been trafficked. But on Thursday, in the second legal challenge brought against the Home Office over the deal, the same judge refused the migrant’s application for interim relief before a full legal challenge against the decision to deport him. Barristers for the man, who cannot be named, had argued that the decision was “procedurally unfair” as he had not been given sufficient opportunity to put forward evidence supporting his claim that he was an “alleged trafficking victim”. In a ruling, Mr Justice Sheldon said “there is no serious issue to be tried in this case” and that the man gave differing accounts of his allegations of trafficking. Ministers agreed the pilot scheme with the French government in July as part of efforts to deter the record number of arrivals by small boat. Hours after the first removal under the agreement, Trump urged the prime minister to involve the military. At a joint Chequers press conference with the prime minister, the president highlighted his own record in securing the US borders and suggested the UK faced a similar challenge. He said: “You have people coming in and I told the prime minister I would stop it, and it doesn’t matter if you call out the military, it doesn’t matter what means you use. “It destroys countries from within and we’re actually now removing a lot of the people that came into our country.” |