The UK government on Wednesday insisted a migrant swap deal with France would go ahead and vowed to appeal against a court ruling that blocked the deportation of an Eritrean man.
The High Court in London stalled the deportation for 14 days after lawyers argued the man faced a “real risk of destitution” if he was sent back to France, posing another setback to government plans to stop people from crossing the Channel on small boats.
Charities have warned that the deal struck with Paris earlier this year is likely to face several legal challenges.
The agreement allows Britain to return people arriving on small boats if they are deemed ineligible for asylum, and in return the UK will accept an equal number of migrants from France who apply via an online platform.
Interior minister Shabana Mahmood said last-minute attempts to stop deportations were “intolerable”, after the man won an 11th-hour reprieve on Tuesday.
Government minister Liz Kendall said earlier the court decision “won’t prevent the rest of that deal going ahead”, with officials insisting that the first removals are still planned to take place this week.
More than 90 migrants who recently arrived in the UK on small boats have been detained for deportation to France, according to charities.
France will make its first repatriations from Saturday, its interior ministry said.
Lawyers for the Eritrean man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appealed under a scheme that assesses victims of slavery and human trafficking.
Mahmood dismissed the case, saying: “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.”
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The British returns were set to begin early this week but they have already been hit by delays.
People scheduled to be flown from Heathrow Airport to Paris on Air France flights on Monday and Tuesday had their deportations delayed after filing legal claims, according to charities working with them.
“There’s going to be all sorts of challenges that will be testing the new agreement and where the ground lies,” Pierre Makhlouf from the Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) charity told AFP.
“If the government presumed that the removals would actually take place this week, then they might be premature.”
Under the agreement, those who come to the UK via small boats and are removed to France will be barred from applying for legal routes to re-enter Britain.
“That does mean that those who are here will fight very hard,” said Makhlouf.
Like previous administrations, Starmer’s Labour government has struggled to deter thousands of migrants arriving to UK shores, with more than 31,000 crossing in small boats this year.
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