BRITAIN has finally managed to boot out the first Channel migrant under Sir Keir Starmer’s one-in, one-out pact with France.
The man, from India, was escorted onto an Air France passenger jet at Heathrow and flown to Paris earlier this morning, according to Government sources.
EPAMore than 31,000 migrants have crossed to England so far in 2025[/caption]
AFPFrench President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer[/caption]
GettyHome Secretary Shabana Mahmood[/caption]
He is the first of up to 100 Channel migrants detained by Border Force at the start of last month to be sent back.
It comes after three humiliating days when the Home Office failed to remove a single person under the scheme due to a string of last-minute legal challenges citing modern slavery and trafficking.
A French government official told The Telegraph: “We have already had an arrival this morning and will no doubt welcome two today and we expect a departure on Saturday of a group of asylum seekers to the UK.”
A second small boat migrant is reportedly scheduled to be sent back to France later today.
The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will hail the deportation as a milestone, claiming it shows Labour can deliver where the Tories failed with Rwanda.
She has already ordered an urgent review of Britain’s modern slavery laws after blasting “vexatious” claims used to stall deportations earlier this week.
Ms Mahmood was left seething on Tuesday when a High Court judge blocked the removal of a 25-year-old Eritrean for at least 14 days to give his lawyers more time to lodge trafficking evidence.
The Home Office is appealing the ruling today.
The Home Secretary said yesterday: “Migrants suddenly deciding that they are a modern slave on the eve of their removal, having never made such a claim before, make a mockery of our laws and this country’s generosity.
“I will fight to end vexatious, last-minute claims.
“I will robustly defend the British public’s priorities in any court.
“And I will do whatever it takes to secure our border.”
Her comments were heavily condemned by the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Eleanor Lyons, who accused her of putting lives at risk.
She said Ms Mahmood’s words “have a real-life impact on victims of exploitation, who may now be more scared to come forward and talk about what’s happened to them”.
Ms Lyons told the BBC: “The Home Office are the deciders in this country on whether someone is a victim of modern slavery. They have the final decision-making.
“Both the House of Commons and the House of Lords select committees have looked at this issue in recent years, and they found there’s no misuse of the system.
“It puts vulnerable lives at risk when the Home Secretary is claiming that is the case.”
Senior Treasury minister James Murray rejected suggestions that Labour had forgotten its values as he faced questions from broadcasters about the Government response.
He told Sky News: “No, not at all. What’s driving this is what’s important to the British people.
“As a Government, we’re responding to what’s important to people in the UK, and people have said, and people are right to feel angry about the level of illegal migration.
“People are right to feel they want hotels to close. People are right to feel they want the Government to do more on this, and that’s exactly why we’re doing more on this.”
More than 31,000 people have crossed the Channel so far this year, which is the highest total on record for this point in the year.
French officials are said to have requested that the first returnee be an Indian national, meaning he can be offered “voluntary return” to his homeland with a free ticket and €2,500 cash.
If he refuses, he faces enforced removal under a deal between Paris and New Delhi.
Migrants returned under the scheme will initially be placed in emergency accommodation for three days before moving to one of France’s 3,000 asylum centres.
More than 100,000 people are already housed there.
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