Immigrants who arrived in the UK on a small boat have been
detained under the UK-France treaty, which is now operational.
Detentions began for those who arrived in the UK on a small boat
yesterday lunchtime (August 6). They will be held in immigration
removal centres pending their removal. The UK will make referrals
to France within 3 days, and the French authorities will be
expected to respond within 14 days. Those detained will be
briefed on the procedure through which their return to
France will take place, and the next operational phase of
preparing each individual for removal will be activated.
Today (August 7) the reciprocal process to allow migrants to
submit an expression of interest to come the UK has also begun.
Applicants must satisfy the eligibility and suitability criteria,
including uploading a passport or other identity documents as
well as a recent photograph. For those selected, they will have
to pass further stringent security checks and biometric controls,
meaning that only those individuals that the UK Government has
approved for entry will be allowed through the new route.
As the one-in, one-out pilot scheme continues into its
implementation phase, the Home Office is also working to
communicate information about the new treaty to any migrants in
Northern France and beyond who are considering making a dangerous
small boat crossing, with a hard-hitting campaign warning them
not to risk their money or their life, to be promoted in the
coming days across multiple channels.
Border Force, Immigration Enforcement and Home Office officials
will continue to work round the clock over the coming weeks to
identify and detain individuals under the treaty, and undertake
the necessary processes to prepare them for their return to
France. Both the UK and French authorities will also be keeping
the operation of the scheme under constant review in these
initial weeks to deal with any emerging issues, as well as
seeking to ramp up the pace and scale of returns as the agreement
progresses.
Home Secretary 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.
No one should be making this illegal and dangerous journey that
undermines our border security and lines the pockets of the
criminal gangs.
Criminal gangs have spent 7 years embedding themselves along our
border and it will take time to unravel them, but these
detentions are an important step towards undermining their
business model and unravelling the false promises they make.
These are the early days for this pilot scheme, and it will
develop over time. But we are on track to do what no other
government has done since this crisis first started – sending
small boat arrivals back to France and strengthening our
borders through the Plan for Change.
Returns to other countries and immigration enforcement work will
continue alongside the treaty. In its first year in office, this
government returned more than 35,000 people with no right to be
in the UK – a 28% increase in returns of failed asylum seekers
and a 13% increase in overall returns compared to the previous
year. The government also ramped up activity against illegal
working, with over 9,000 raids since July 2024, resulting in
6,410 arrests – up 48% and 51% on the previous year.
