The first tranche of migrants to be deported to France under a new “one in, one out” deal will be detained within days.
A scheme will see people being rounded up for removal in the coming week under a France-UK deal to bring down soaring numbers of small boat crossings in the Channel.
The initial pilot – now signed off by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, her French counterpart Bruno Retailleau, and the EU Commission – will be reviewed and expanded over the coming year.
Anyone who enters the UK on a small boat faces being held at Manston processing centre and removed to France if their asylum claim is deemed invalid.
But the pilot will begin with relatively small numbers of returns, raising questions over how effective the policy will be in stopping small boat crossings.
It is expected to initially see just 50 people a week sent to France – in contrast to the weekly average of more than 800 people arriving on UK shores this year.
Under the scheme, which will run until June 2026, the UK Government will allow the safe passage of one asylum seeker from France for every person that is detained and deported.
This will mean an equal number of migrants to the number of those deported will be eligible to come to the UK so long as they have not attempted an illegal crossing before.
Those selected to come to Britain will be subject to security and eligibility checks. Anyone who has tried to make the crossing will be banned from coming under the scheme, but the Government will set out further details of the eligibility criteria on Tuesday.
And those subject to deportation will undergo screening to ensure suitability for detention, the Government said, with additional space already set aside in anticipation in removal centres.
Organisations supporting refugees have urged the Government to provide more safe, legal routes for asylum seekers – rather than a “one in, one out policy”.
Ministers said they were “prepared to robustly defend any legal challenges” to the removals.
The treaty was unveiled by Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron last month, under plans to crack down on the number of people making the dangerous journey to the UK over the Channel, from France.
The Government is under huge, sustained pressure to show progress in bringing down the number of small boat arrivals.
More than 25,000 people have already made the journey this year, and the issue is feeding into unrest and protests linked to hotels housing asylum seekers.
Experts have warned that the policy could fail if the risk of being sent back to France is small and low numbers of migrants are returned.
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On Monday, the Home Office announced it was providing another £100m to tackle people-smuggling and would introduce new powers to seize devices from people suspected of facilitating crossings.
Pressed on the issue of rising migrant numbers, No 10 said: “We’ve never shied away from the scale of the problem that we face. It’s worth remembering that for almost a decade, these gangs have been allowed to embed their global smuggling networks almost unchecked, and that’s the scale of the challenge that we’re intent on changing.”
Starmer said: “This is the product of months of grown-up diplomacy delivering real results for British people as we broker deals no Government has been able to achieve and strike at the heart of these vile gangs’ business model.”
Cooper described the deal – the first of its kind with France – as “an important step towards undermining the business model of the organised crime gangs that are behind these crossings – undermining their claims that those who travel to the UK illegally can’t be returned to France”.
“While the UK will always be ready to play its part alongside other countries in helping those fleeing persecution and conflict, this must be done in a controlled and managed legal way, not through dangerous, illegal, and uncontrolled routes,” she said.
Cooper said the pilot would be developed “step by step” with different approaches trialled throughout. She is continuing to look at potential returns deals with other countries.
And the UK and France will continue to take action against the people-smuggling gangs, including a push from French authorities to ramp up enforcement activity to prevent small boats from leaving France’s shores.
The Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the deal would return “just 6 per cent of illegal arrivals” and “make no difference whatsoever”.
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