The second deportation under the Government’s “one in, one out” deal with France took place early on Friday morning as hundreds more migrants risked their lives trying to reach the UK.
An Eritrean man, who arrived in the UK on a small boat last month, was on an Air France flight to Paris which left London Heathrow at 6.15am on Friday.
The deportation comes after he lost a High Court bid to have his removal temporarily blocked.
It will come as a relief to the Government amid pressure to tackle the small boats crisis, with Donald Trump suggesting Sir Keir Starmer should use the military.
The US president said during his state visit to the UK that the Prime Minister “should take a very strong stand” on immigration which is “really hurting him badly”.
But as the deportation took place, the scale of the issue was emphasised once again as hundreds of migrants simultaneously tried to cross the Channel.
At least one inflatable dinghy full of young men made its way out to sea from Gravelines beach, north east Calais, at daybreak on Friday morning.
As the boat came close to shore, people waded through waist-high water towards it and a child was passed aboard before it went out to sea.
In the town itself, at about 5.30am, a group of 40 young men suddenly appeared from a quiet side street carrying an inflatable boat over their heads before launching it into a canal.
Police officers watched on from the bank as the driver of the boat struggled to keep it in a straight line.
Earlier in the night, a group of men formed a human chain to help haul people out of the mud after a failed attempt to launch a boat in the canal.
The removal of small boat migrants to France has begun.
— Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) September 18, 2025
The UK can now rapidly detain and remove illegal migrants from the country.
Following strict security checks, we will accept legal migrants through a new safe route in the coming days.
Friday’s deportation comes a day after the first deportation of a migrant under the scheme, which came into force last month and seeks to remove those who crossed the English Channel back to the continent.
This is in exchange for those who apply in France and are approved to come to Britain.
The Home Office said the UK “will accept legal migrants through a new safe route in the coming days”.
A man who arrived in the UK by small boat in August was put on a flight to France on Thursday morning.
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 ahead of 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.
“It was open to (the Home Office) to conclude that his credibility was severely damaged and his account of trafficking could not reasonably be believed,” the judge said.
He also said there was “significant public interest in favour of the claimant’s removal”.
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, Mr Trump urged Sir Keir 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.”
The American leader later said of Sir Keir in a Fox News interview: “I think he should take a very strong stand on the immigration. It’s really hurting him badly.”
