UK deports first migrant to France under new scheme

LONDON (AFP) — Britain on Thursday returned the first migrant to France under a new “one-in, one-out” deal, both governments confirmed, as London bids to curb highly contentious cross-Channel small boat arrivals.

The U.K. interior ministry said it removed the man, who had arrived aboard a small boat in August, on a commercial flight.

The French government also confirmed the deportation, with a source telling AFP that London had returned an Indian national.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it provided “proof of concept” that the new partnership can work, adding his government now needed to increase removals.

“We need to ramp that up at scale, which was always envisaged under the scheme,” Starmer told reporters at a news conference alongside U.S. President Donald Trump, who urged him to “stop” migration.

“You have people coming in, and I told the prime minister I would stop it,” Trump said, noting his success curbing irregular crossings of the southern U.S. border.

“It doesn’t matter if you call out the military, it doesn’t matter what means you use,” he said, warning irregular immigration “destroys countries from within.”

Under the U.K.-France scheme, Britain can return small-boat migrants after they arrive across the Channel if they are deemed ineligible for asylum, including those who have passed through a “safe country” to reach U.K. shores.

In return, London will accept an equal number of migrants from France who can apply for a U.K. visa via an online platform.

The pilot scheme, which came into force in August, is set to run until June 2026.

‘Smash the gangs’

Britain’s interior ministry said further removals were expected later this week and next week, while the first legal arrivals from France were expected “in the coming days.”

Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood insisted the U.K. “will always play its part in helping those genuinely fleeing persecution.”

But it must be “through safe, legal and managed routes — not dangerous crossings.”

Starmer struck the deal with French President Emmanuel Macron in July.

Tens of thousands of migrants have arrived annually on U.K. shores in recent years, fueling domestic anger and the rise of Brexit figurehead Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK Party.

The journeys across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes have also repeatedly proved fatal for migrants. At least 23 people have died so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on official French data.

Starmer took power in July 2024 vowing to “smash the gangs” behind the journeys, and scrapped a costly scheme planned by the previous Conservative government to send some migrants to Rwanda.

‘Cruel’

Thursday’s first removal comes just days after the High Court in London temporarily blocked the planned deportation of an Eritrean migrant.

Mahmood reiterated she “will continue to challenge any last-minute, vexatious attempts to frustrate a removal in the courts.”

The man had claimed he was a victim of trafficking, and the High Court gave him 14 days to provide proof.

The Home Office was set Thursday to apply to the Court of Appeal to cut that deadline.

Meanwhile, the government will launch a “rapid review” of modern anti-slavery legislation “to prevent its misuse,” it said.

France will send the first migrants under the scheme to the U.K. from Saturday, its interior ministry has said.

But French non-governmental organizations have criticized that side of the scheme as largely unworkable.

Stella Bosc, spokeswoman for one such NGO, the Migrant Hostel, dismissed it as “political posturing.”

U.K. charities have also condemned the scheme.

The “cruel policy targeting people who come here to seek safety” was a “grim attempt … to appease the racist far right,” said Griff Ferris, of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.

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By JOE JACKSON Agence France-Presse