An Eritrean asylum seeker, who arrived in the UK on a small boat, will not be deported on Wednesday under the government’s “one in, one out” pilot scheme.
It comes after the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, won his High Court bid to have the removal temporarily blocked.
He had been due to be on a flight to France at 9am on Wednesday and brought a legal claim against the Home Office, asking the court for a block on his removal.
Lawyers acting on his behalf said the case “concerns a trafficking claim,” alleged he has a gunshot wound in his leg, and warned the High Court that the man could be left destitute if he was returned to France.
The Home Office defended the case, saying it was reasonable to expect the man to claim asylum in France when he first arrived there, before coming to the UK in August.
On Tuesday evening, Mr Justice Sheldon said: “I am going to grant a short period of interim relief.”
It came after a decision from the national referral mechanism (NRM) – which identifies and assesses victims of slavery and human trafficking – and the invitation from the NRM for the man to make further representations.
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Explaining his ruling, Mr Justice Sheldon added that the “status quo is that the claimant is currently in this country and has not been removed”.
However, he added: “This matter should come back to this court as soon as is reasonably practical in light of the further representations that the claimant… will make on his trafficking decision.”
The decision is a setback to the government’s plan to return such migrants. The man was due to be the first person deported under the UK and France’s “one in, one out” migrant returns deal signed in July.
Read more: How UK-France migrant returns deal works
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That deal means the UK can send people back to France if they have entered the country illegally.
In exchange, the UK will allow asylum seekers to enter through a safe and legal route – as long as they have not previously tried to enter illegally.
It is a pilot scheme for now, in place until June 2026.
Shadow home secretary and Conservative MP Chris Philp said that Labour’s returns deal “had failed to remove a single migrant, yet thousands more continue to arrive”.
He added that “the government must come clean on whether even one person has been sent to us from France in return,” before saying he told Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood “that unless they disapply the Human Rights Act for immigration cases, this deal would collapse in court”.
“She refused, and here is the predictable result,” Mr Philip said. “This is another failed gimmick from this weak government who seem think a press release is the same as action.”
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