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 Yvette Cooper 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.
