Labour’s ‘one in, one out’ agreement with France has sparked controversy today as reports reveal that a man deported under the scheme has already returned to the UK via a small boat.
Sources from the Home Office have confirmed that the individual, an Iranian national whose identity remains undisclosed, initially arrived in the UK on August 6, coinciding with the launch of the new French agreement. He was subsequently deported on September 19.
After being placed in a migrant shelter in Paris, the man reportedly absconded and made his way back to France’s northern coast.
He then embarked on another journey across the Channel by dinghy, making his way back to the UK last Saturday, just weeks after his deportation.
Upon arrival, border officials recognized him as a returning individual, and he is currently detained in a British immigration removal center.
This repeated crossing underscores significant issues within the ‘one in, one out’ policy, which was established between Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.
When it was first unveiled in the summer senior officials were unable to give an explanation of what would prevent deported migrants heading straight back to the Channel, saying only that they would be subject to the French immigration system.
The Daily Mail understands the Home Office is now trying urgently to return the back-and-forth migrant to France again.
He was the third migrant to be removed under the scheme, after an Indian man the on September 18 and an Eritrean earlier on September 19.
Since Labour’s returns deal came into force on August 6, 11,298 small boat migrants have reached Britain.
Only 42 migrants have been sent back under the French treaty, including the man who has now returned.
A further 23 migrants have been allowed into Britain under the terms of the deal, which allows them to ‘regularise’ their status. Most are expected to claim asylum.
The deal was trumpeted as Labour’s flagship measure to tackle the Channel crisis, after the PM scrapped the Tories’ Rwanda asylum scheme as one of his first acts in office.
The returned migrant has claimed he is not safe in France and is a victim of modern slavery at the hands of people trafficking gangs.
‘If I had felt that France was safe for me I would never have returned to the UK,” the migrant said in an interview with the Guardian.
‘When we were returned to France we were taken to a shelter in Paris.
‘I didn’t dare to go out because I was afraid for my life.
‘The smugglers are very dangerous. They always carry weapons and knives
‘I fell into the trap of a human trafficking network in the forests of France before I crossed to the UK from France the first time.
Migrants crossing from northern France by dinghy last month
‘They took me like a worthless object, forced me to work, abused me, and threatened me with a gun and told me I would be killed if I made the slightest protest.
‘Every day and every night I was filled with terror and stress.
‘Every day I live in fear and anxiety, every loud noise, every shadow, every strange face scares me.
‘When I reached UK the first time and Home Office asked what had happened to me I was crying and couldn’t speak about this because of shame.’
Since Labour came to power, 59,976 migrants have reached Britain by small boat.
There is further Border Force activity in the Channel today, suggesting the 60,000 milestone could be reached imminently.
Yesterday the Daily Mail reported how Migration Watch UK, which campaigns for tougher border controls, had calculated the returns deal would take nearly 300 years, at current rates, to remove all the small boat migrants who have arrived since it came into force.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We will not accept any abuse of our borders, and we will do everything in our power to remove those without the legal right to be here.
‘Individuals who are returned under the pilot and subsequently attempt to re-enter the UK illegally will be removed.’
