The first migrant has been deported to France under Sir Keir Starmer’s “one in, one out” deal.
The man, who arrived in the UK on a small boat in August, was flown into Paris from Heathrow on Thursday morning.
The first arrivals to the UK from France under the scheme are expected in the coming days, with more deportation flights due this week and next.
The news comes after the home secretary Shabana Mahmood vowed to review modern slavery laws after the High Court blocked an Eritrean asylum seeker’s removal from the UK under the deal.
The deportation, which was first reported by The Telegraph, follows three days of failed attempts by the Home Office to remove migrants under the scheme.
The migrant is from India, and French officials are expecting to receive another migrant under the scheme later today, the paper reported.
Officials reportedly requested an Indian national, as France has an agreement with India to accept enforced returns. The UK-France returns pilot will initially run until June 2026.
Announcing the news of the first return to France, home secretary Ms 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.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Labour “must come clean” and clarify whether the removal was voluntary. He added: “Since Labour announced their returns deal 9,909 illegal immigrants have crossed the Channel, and we are supposed to celebrate one solitary return?
“Labour must come clean. Was this removal voluntary? How many are we taking from France? And how much taxpayers’ money has already been wasted on empty flights?”
It comes after the High Court granted a last-minute injunction to a 25-year-old Eritrean man on Tuesday evening, halting his removal on an early flight to Paris on Wednesday.
Ms Mahmood said that “last-minute attempts to frustrate a removal are intolerable” and added that she would “fight them at every step”, as she confirmed that the Home Office would appeal against the High Court’s temporary block.
The appeal will seek to limit the amount of time a person has to provide evidence to challenge their negative modern slavery decision. The Home Office is also undertaking a “rapid review” of modern slavery legislation to prevent its misuse.
The home secretary said that asylum seekers were making “vexatious, last-minute” modern slavery claims. But the independent anti-slavery commissioner Eleanor Lyons condemned Ms Mahmood’s comments, saying they would put lives at risk.
Several asylum seekers who were due to be deported under the “one in, one out” scheme this week have had their removal directions removed after they sent pre-action legal letters to the Home Office.
The Home Office has agreed to review some cases of those in detention.
Charity Detention Action – currently supporting 28 people detained under the UK-France returns deal – said that four of them had removal directions scheduled between Monday and Wednesday, which were all cancelled or deferred with no further date set.
Two people the charity is supporting have their removals scheduled for later this week or early next week. Of the 28, seven people have indicators of human trafficking, but only one has been referred so far for modern slavery support.
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Enver Solomon, CEO at the Refugee Council, said that, while the UK-France deal is workable, “it still needs to be run in a fair and competent way”.
He added: “It is vital that survivors of trafficking and torture, as well as children, are not put on these flights and everyone is given the opportunity to make their case about why they shouldn’t be returned to France”.
Kolbassia Haoussou, at the charity Freedom from Torture, also criticised Ms Mahmood’s modern slavery comments, saying: “As a survivor of torture, I know just how harmful it is to dismiss late asylum disclosures as ‘vexatious’. Trauma, fear and a hostile system silence people, not dishonesty.
“I stayed silent at first because I didn’t feel safe. Only with proper legal advice could I finally share the truth.”
