LONDON: Britain’s government said Thursday (Oct 9) it had removed 26 irregular migrants to France and taken 18 migrants in return under its “one-in, one-out” deal with Paris, after facing some early obstacles.
Migrants have started being expelled from the UK – still in small numbers relative to those arriving at British shores on small boats – in “group flights”, the Home Office said in a statement.
The second such group flight arrived in France on Thursday, the government said, before carrying on to Eastern Europe as part of the UK’s regularly scheduled return flights.
The first removals in September had involved individual or small numbers of migrants being flown from London to Paris on commercial flights.
“With flights to France now underway and ramping up, we are sending out a clear message: if you come here illegally, you face being detained and removed, so think twice before making that journey,” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a statement.
The UK-France scheme, which came into force in August, aims to deter record numbers of migrants crossing the Channel from France to Britain in small boats, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government struggling to quell public discontent over immigration levels.
It faced some early hiccups with the UK High Court temporarily blocking the deportation of an Eritrean man, and charities warning migrants would launch more legal challenges that the government vowed to fight.
UK CAN DETAIN AND RETURN BOAT MIGRANTS
The deal allows the UK to detain and return small boat migrants if they are deemed ineligible for asylum in the UK, including those who have passed through a “safe country”.
In exchange, London agreed to accept an equal number of migrants from France who can apply for a UK visa via an online portal under the pilot scheme set to run until June 2026.
The UK’s Labour government has also said it will reassess various rights protections for migrants and announced this month it will scrap a process which allowed families to reunite with asylum seekers granted refugee status in Britain.
Starmer is hoping to claw back support he is losing to hard-right, anti-immigration upstarts Reform UK by announcing various deterrents.
Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper announced £10 million ($13 million) on Thursday for solutions to tackle gangs transporting migrants through Europe at a conference in Northern Ireland with counterparts from the Western Balkans.
Over 34,000 people have arrived in the UK in small boats this year, with at least 27 people killed attempting the perilous journey in the same time, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
