The first migrants who arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel have been detained under the new “one in, one out” deal with France, the prime minister has confirmed.
The first detentions came after people arrived in Dover on Wednesday, the first day the pilot scheme came into force.
The agreement, announced by the prime minister in a joint press conference with Emmanuel Macron last month, means that any adult migrant who crosses the Channel will now be at risk of return if their claim for asylum is considered inadmissible.
For each small boat migrant sent back across the English Channel, an asylum seeker will be allowed to enter the UK from France under a legal route.
UK officials aim to make referrals for returns to France within three days of a person’s arrival by small boat while French authorities will respond within 14 days.
Adults and families in France are now able to express an interest in coming to the UK through an online platform set up by the Home Office. They will have to meet suitability criteria, standard visa application process and security checks.
Posting to social media, the prime minister said: “We have detained the first illegal migrants under our new deal before returning them to France. No gimmicks, just results.
“If you break the law to enter this country, you will face being sent back. When I say I will stop at nothing to secure our borders, I mean it.”
The government is hoping the new scheme will turn the tide on the numbers of people arriving in the UK after crossing the Channel, amid mounting tensions over the issue in recent days.
There have been protests across the UK opposing the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, with a number of people arrested after a protest outside a hotel in Canary Wharf in London on Sunday.
The Home Office said detentions began for those who arrived on Wednesday afternoon and they will be held in immigration removal centres until they are returned to France.
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.”
However, there is confusion over whether the UK-France deal leaves open a loophole which would allow for human rights claims to hold up deportations.
The terms of the treaty indicated that migrants who had arrived in the UK via small boat could frustrate attempts to deport them to France, as the agreement contains a clause that says in order for people to be returned to France the UK must confirm they do not have an “outstanding human rights claim”.
Critics have argued this could risk bogus applications being made to frustrate the deportation process and cause delays.
Home Office sources said that migrants with an ongoing human rights claim would not be removed from the UK until their claim is complete in UK courts.
If, however, a claim hasn’t been commenced then an individual can be removed, with any further legal challenges being dealt with in the French courts.
It is also understood that people with claims that have been ruled as unfounded can be removed even where there is a possibility of future legal challenge.
Labour has put a pledge to crack down on the number of people coming to the UK on small boats at the centre of its plan for government.
But with boat crossings at a record high, and the asylum backlog still above 75,000, there is mounting pressure on ministers to take more drastic action – pressure which is exacerbated by the success of Reform UK in the polls.
Last week figures showed that the number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the English Channel topped 25,000 – the earliest point in a calendar year at which the 25,000 mark has been passed since data on Channel crossings was first reported in 2018.
