High Court hears first legal challenge to UK-France ‘one-in, one-out’ migrant deal

A 25-year-old Eritrean man has launched the first High Court challenge to the UK’s recently agreed "one-in, one-out" return deal with France, seeking an interim injunction to prevent his removal on the grounds that he would face destitution if returned.

The claimant, who was granted anonymity by the court, is due to be placed on a Home Office flight to France at 9 a.m. on the day after the emergency hearing. Court papers say he arrived in Britain by small boat on Aug. 12 after travelling from Eritrea via Ethiopia, Libya and Italy, and that his mother paid smugglers for his crossing. Lawyers for the man say he was trafficked to Libya in 2023 and that there is a "real risk of destitution" if he is deported under the bilateral agreement reached in July between Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.

At an emergency hearing convened at short notice in the High Court in London, barrister Sonali Naik KC, representing the claimant, told the court there was a "serious issue to be tried" about whether the man would become destitute if returned and that interim relief — a temporary postponement of removal — was appropriate. Naik described the application as a postponement rather than an attempt to stay a charter flight.

Kate Grange KC, appearing for the Home Office, said in written submissions that it would be reasonable to expect the man to claim asylum in France. The Home Office asserts that at least two charities indicated they would provide accommodation in France if the claimant lodged a French asylum claim. Grange said that the availability of charity accommodation and the option to claim asylum in France undermined the assertion of destitution.

The hearing comes after two planned deportations under the scheme were aborted amid late legal challenges. An attempt to remove a migrant on an Air France flight from Heathrow to Paris Charles de Gaulle was abandoned on consecutive days after lawyers submitted last-minute legal challenges, including modern-slavery claims and applications under the European Convention on Human Rights, according to charities and campaigners opposed to the policy.

The agreement, which came into effect on Aug. 7, provides for a one-for-one exchange: migrants who arrive in Britain illegally across the Channel can be returned to France in exchange for migrants in France who will be flown to the UK and given a short-term visa while their applications are considered. Officials have said the UK will bear the financial cost for both sides of the exchanges and that returns will involve security checks, although French authorities will not transfer personal details such as criminal-record information on those flown to the UK.

Home Office officials have reported that around 100 people have been detained as potential candidates for removal under the scheme since it began, and that plans to use charter flights to return dozens of people have been replaced by placing small groups or single migrants on scheduled services accompanied by Home Office escort officers.

The legal challenge arrived amid heightened political and public scrutiny of the Government's approach to Channel crossings. So far this year, official figures show 31,026 people have crossed the Channel to the UK by small boat, an increase of 38% on the same period last year. Since Aug. 7, 5,435 small-boat migrants have arrived in Britain, according to Home Office figures.

Charities including Auberge des Migrants and the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) have campaigned against the deal and said they encouraged complaints to airlines involved in removals. The JCWI described the deportations as "cruel" and urged airlines not to facilitate returns, while campaign groups have used legal claims, including allegations of modern slavery, to seek last-minute interventions in removal procedures.

Opposition politicians have criticised the Government for what they called the scheme’s fragility after the aborted flights. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the policy had been undermined by legal challenges, while ministers and Downing Street officials said the delays did not demonstrate that the system was failing and stressed that France was a safe country. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs the Government planned to resume returns "as soon as possible" and said she was in contact with French counterparts to operationalise the agreement.

The High Court hearing was ongoing at the time of reporting. The outcome of the interim application will determine whether the claimant is removed on the scheduled flight or whether his case proceeds to a fuller hearing on the substance of his human-rights claim.