Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said the first return of a migrant to France under the Government’s “one in, one out” scheme shows people crossing the English Channel that “if you enter the UK illegally, we will seek to remove you”.
A man who arrived in the UK by small boat in August was put on a flight to France on Thursday morning, the Home Office said.
It added that further flights are scheduled to take place this week and next week.
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.
“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 move came as the Government faced fresh pressure over the migrant returns agreement, amid reports of flights for removals being cancelled earlier this week.
This is the first deportation of a migrant who has crossed the English Channel since the returns deal came into force last month.
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 crossings so far this year.
Under the deal, the UK will send back to France asylum seekers who have crossed the Channel, in exchange for those who apply and are approved to come to Britain.
The first arrivals to come to the UK under the new safe and legal route, are expected to come to the UK in the coming days.
The Home Office will also lodge an appeal on Thursday against the first legal challenge brought to the High Court against a migrant’s deportation under the scheme.
On Tuesday, the court granted an Eritrean man a “short period of interim relief” 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.
Ms Mahmood has said she will fight last-minute claims against removals, and that the use of modern slavery legislation to block deportations made a “mockery of our laws”.
But her comments have been criticised by the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Eleanor Lyons, who said the claims put vulnerable lives at risk.
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