MIGRANTS arriving in Britain by small boat were immediately detained yesterday under the new “one in, one out” deal with France.
The first to be held under the pilot scheme were picked up in Dover on Wednesday – just hours after the new treaty kicked in.
PAA group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent[/caption]
Photos showed arrivals in life jackets being led off Border Force vessels at the Western Jet Foil facility.
An unspecified number were held on the spot and taken to immigration removal centres — with swift deportation to France now expected.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Yesterday, under the terms of this groundbreaking new treaty, the first group of people to cross the Channel were detained after their arrival at Western Jet Foil and will now be held in detention until they can be returned to France.
“That sends a message to every migrant currently thinking of paying organised crime gangs to go to the UK that they will be risking their lives and throwing away their money if they get into a small boat.”
The Home Office says it will not be disclosing figures at this stage for fear it would be exploited by smugglers.
But just around 50 people a week are expected to be returned under the deal, a tiny number compared to the 25,436 who have already crossed this year.
Just hours after the “one in, one out” scheme came into force, footage showed a French warship escorting a boatload of migrants towards Britain without stopping it.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, filming just off Calais, said: “I’m on the Channel today just off Calais to see if the Government’s new deal with France is working. It isn’t.
“There is a boat full of illegal immigrants crossing right in front of me.
“The French warship is escorting it and making no attempt at all to stop it.”
The scheme allows Britain to return small boat arrivals in exchange for taking in the same number of approved asylum seekers still in France.
But legal rows also broke out within hours of the plan taking effect – as ministers gave conflicting accounts on whether deportations can be blocked by human rights claims.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told the BBC small boat migrants sent back across the Channel could have their human rights claims heard in France.
She said: “I know that the Conservative Party has been saying that this is a loophole. It isn’t and we’re really confident about that.”
But the full agreement, published on Tuesday, states clearly the UK must confirm a person has no outstanding human rights claim before returning them.
It also says Britain “shall not seek France’s participation in legal proceedings to which this article applies”.
The Tories insist the text of the treaty provides an “easy loophole” for lawyers of migrants to exploit.
And it is understood the Home Office is preparing for a wave of judicial review challenges from migrants set to be deported – meaning legal battles could drag on for weeks.
Officials insist migrants will be removed “when there is no barrier to removal” – even if they have made a human rights claim, so long as it’s been ruled “clearly unfounded”.
That is 49 per cent higher than this time last year – and a record for this point in the calendar.
Border Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle wrote on X: “It will take time, and it will be hard, but as we get it up and running, it will make an important contribution to the all-out assault we are waging against the business model of the smuggling gangs.”
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