Migrant faces ‘real risk of destitution’ if removed to France, High Court told

The legal challenge comes as reports suggest deportations of migrants under the deal with France are yet to begin.

The High Court is hearing the legal challenge (Anthony Devlin/PA)

By Nina Massey and Jess Glass, PA

September 16, 2025 at 5:45pm BST

An Eritrean man faces a “real risk of destitution” if he is deported to France under the Government’s “one in one out” policy, the High Court has been told.

The man is bringing the claim against the Home Office, and is due to be removed from the UK at 9am on Wednesday.

Lawyers for the man are asking the court for a temporary block on his removal.

The Home Office is defending the case saying that it was reasonable to expect the man to claim asylum in France.

Ministers agreed the pilot scheme with the French government in July as part of efforts to deter the record number of arrivals by small boat crossings so far this year.

The first detentions of migrants took place last month as the deal came into force, and they have been held at an immigration removal centre pending their removal from the country.

Despite the ongoing legal challenge, Downing Street insisted it expects deportations to begin “imminently” under the UK’s migrant returns deal with France.

Asked about the case at the High Court, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “As we’ve been saying the last couple of days, we have actually made the first detentions under the scheme and expect the first returns to take place imminently, but for obvious reasons we’re not going to get into a running commentary on operational details ahead of that.”

Sonali Naik KC, for the unnamed man, said a decision under the national referral mechanism decision – which identifies and assesses victims of slavery and human trafficking – was pending.

She told the court on Tuesday the man faces a “real risk of destitution” if he is put on a flight to France.

Ms Naik KC, said there is “a serious issue to be tried” about whether or not the man would be destitute if returned to France.

The court in London heard that the man was seeking “interim relief”, a temporary block on his removal to France, until his case could be fully heard.

The barrister continued: “We are not dealing with a charter flight, it is simply a postponement.”

Ms Naik told the court the case “concerns a trafficking claim” and that her client, who alleges he has a gunshot wound in his leg, claims he is vulnerable.

The court heard that about a third of asylum seekers in France are not accommodated and they are given a daily allowance of 7.50 euros.

Kate Grange KC, for the Home Office, said in written submissions that the man travelled to Italy in April 2025, before travelling to France and arriving in the UK in August 2025.

She continued: “The claimant asserts that he was destitute, but no less than two charities had indicated they would provide him with accommodation if he claimed asylum.

“It is no answer that the claimant had friends who had claimed asylum and were living on the street, or that he wasn’t sure how long accommodation was being offered.

“He could have claimed asylum.”

Ms Grange continued that the agreement between the UK and France “pursues an important public objective”.

She added: “Serious injury and death, including of children, from small boat crossings in the English Channel is a grave social and political concern at the present time.”

The barrister told the court that in 2024, 78 people directly linked to attempted Channel crossings died and that this week two children had been “crushed to death” in the bottom of a boat.

The deportation of migrants under the deal with France is yet to begin.

A second Air France flight departed from Heathrow on Tuesday without any migrants on board, according to reports.

Downing Street denied that the Government’s return deal with France was a shambles, or that its plans had been hampered by the courts.

Under the arrangement, the UK will send back to France asylum seekers who have crossed the Channel, in exchange for those who apply and are approved to come to Britain.

Migrant faces 'real risk of destitution' if removed to France ...

Migrant faces ‘real risk of destitution’ if removed to France, High Court told

First legal challenge lodged against 'one in, one out' migrant return deal

An Eritrean man who arrived in the UK by small boat has launched a last-minute legal claim at the High Court to stop his removal to France on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old, who arrived in the UK on 12 August, was due to be returned under the new 'one in, one out' returns pilot scheme agreed between the UK and France.

Launching the first legal challenge against the deal in the High Court in London, his lawyers argued that there was a "real risk of destitution" if he was deported to France.

Kate Grange KC, for the Home Office, said he could have claimed asylum in France and that he had shown no evidence of why it was not a safe country to return to. The judge is expected to rule later today.

Papers logged at the High Court show that the man, identified as "NST", left Ethiopia for Europe two years ago, arriving in Italy in April 2025.

A month later, he left for France where he was assisted by charities including the Red Cross, before his mother paid $1,400 (£1,024) to smugglers for his Channel crossing to the UK.

The court heard that he told his initial screening interview with British officials that he had not been exploited and had been paid when he worked as a labourer in Libya.

Asked why he had not sought asylum before arriving in the UK, NST said he had seen people sleeping on the streets in Europe and had concluded there was no support.

Officials said he should have claimed asylum there because he was not under the control of trafficking gangs.

However, Sonali Naik KC, representing NST, said that the Home Office had not yet assessed whether her client was a victim of trafficking - and there had been no evaluation of whether sending him to France would leave him destitute.

Mr Justice Sheldon said that the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg had previously ruled that temporary rough sleeping did not amount to degrading treatment.

The first returns of migrants who reached the UK on small boats via the English Channel from France were expected to begin from as early as Tuesday.

Downing Street has insisted that the removals will begin "imminently" - although initial plans for a flight to Paris today were put back.

The 'one in, one out' scheme was set up as part of a deal announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in July this year. Dozens of migrants have been detained since.

Over the last fortnight, some migrants being held in immigration removal centres, received letters that said they would be put on a scheduled Air France flight departing from Heathrow Airport for Paris at 9am this morning.

However, a number of sources told the BBC that some of the potential passengers had been told their departure would be deferred as further representations about their cases were made.

It is not unusual for immigration removals to be delayed if officials are warned by lawyers that the individual has not had a full or fair opportunity to present their case.

Under the new treaty, France agreed to take back adults or accompanied children who make a journey to the UK by small boat, once any asylum claim is withdrawn or declared inadmissible.

For each person sent back to France, the UK will accept someone with a case for protection as a refugee, who has not tried to cross the English Channel and can pass security and eligibility criteria.

The BBC understands that migrants living in the Calais region who have applied to the scheme have been rejected - but asylum seekers in the Paris region have been accepted.

The government has not confirmed how many people a week will be returned or relocated under the scheme, but former home secretary Yvette Cooper stressed that it was operating on a trial basis.

Other factors that may have played a part in the delay include whether France is ready to receive returnees, and on the UK side, the state of security checks of any potential genuine refugees.

The Home Office began detaining some small boat migrants on 6 August on the basis that they were ineligible for asylum because they had spent time in a safe third country.

Under the scheme, officials in London refer each potential return case to French officials. The French authorities then have two weeks to respond - before beginning the process of proposing who should come to the UK in their place.

The scheme is one of a number of measures unveiled by the government which aim to tackle small boat crossings.

However, the Conservatives have argued it will not see enough migrants deported to act as a significant deterrent.

Ministers have not put a figure on how many people will be returned to France under the pilot.

More than 30,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year.

It is the earliest point in a calendar year this figure has been passed since data on crossings was first reported in 2018.

World News

(bordertelegraph.com) An Eritrean man faces a “real risk of destitution” if removed to France, High Court told

Migrant faces ‘real risk of destitution’ if removed to France, High Court told

The legal challenge comes as reports suggest deportations of migrants under the deal with France are yet to begin.

Migrant faces 'real risk of destitution' if removed to France ...

First legal challenge lodged against 'one in, one out' migrant return deal

No migrant return flights to France on Tuesday

ፈንቅል - 1ይ ክፋል | Fenkil (Part 1) - ERi-TV Documentary

Dehai Events

Latest Posts