Migrants detained to be sent to France (Image: Home Office)
This is the moment the first migrants were detained to be returned to France. The Daily Express witnessed 155 asylum seekers crossing the English Channel on just two boats as Keir Starmer’s deal with Emmanuel Macron came into force.
And never-seen-before Home Office footage published on Thursday shows the moment some of these Channel arrivals were led up the gangway at Western Jet Foil to be processed ahead of being sent back across the Channel.
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They were then taken to Manston where they were screened and underwent security checks.
Migrants arrive at Western Jet Foil as they wait for France return
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Read more: Starmer's migrant deal shamed as French navy runs 'taxi service' for dinghies
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Read more: Keir Starmer breaks silence on migrant deal hours after French escort more boats
Some 155 migrants crossed the Channel yesterday (Image: PA)
Migrants were led ashore after crossing the Channel (Image: Home Office)
Migrants were processed in Dover (Image: Home Office)
Migrants faced security checks in Dover (Image: Home Office)
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A migrant is checked by Border Force (Image: Home Office)
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government was prepared to defend itself against legal challenges if migrants seek to avoid being sent back across the English Channel.
Some 155 people were detected making the crossing on Wednesday in two boats, taking the total for the year to 25,591, 45% higher than at the same point last year and 70% above this stage in 2023.
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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: "We have detained the first illegal migrants under our new deal before returning them to France. No gimmicks, just results.
"If you break the law to enter this country, you will face being sent back. When I say I will stop at nothing to secure our borders, I mean it."
The pilot scheme was set up as part of a deal announced by the Prime Minister and French president Mr Macron during his state visit to the UK in July.
UK officials aim to make referrals for returns to France within three days of a migrant's arrival by small boat while French authorities will respond within 14 days.
This is in exchange for an approved asylum seeker in France to be brought to the UK under a safe route.
No figures have been confirmed for how many migrants will be sent back, although reports from France have suggested it could be around 50 a week, a small fraction of the numbers making the crossing in small boats.
The Home Secretary said: "The pilot has now begun, so the first migrants who have arrived on the small boats are now in detention. We will then swiftly make the referrals to France and that process will now start to be able to return people to France.
"It's the beginning of the pilot and it will build as well over time, but we're also clear that France is a safe country, so we will robustly defend against any legal challenge that people try.
"We do expect for people to start being returned in a matter of weeks."
The Prime Minister’s plan to smash the gangs faced further ridicule after the Daily Express – alongside Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp – witnessed two boats carrying dozens of people being shadowed within 30 minutes of each other.
The French were again accused of effectively running a “taxi service to the UK” and “facilitating this illegal immigration”.
After escorting one of the dinghies to British waters, the French navy vessel captain then contacted Border Force Typhoon over the radio to ask for 60 lifejackets back.
In a stark assessment, Mr Philp said: “The people-smuggling conveyor belt is now a round trip, paid for by British taxpayers.”
A tanker ship even had to divert its course because of a migrant dinghy being shadowed by a French vessel across one of the World's busiest shipping lanes.
Sir Keir – amid political criticism of his deal – insisted his returns deal with Emmanuel Macron is a “deterrent” and sends a “very strong message” to migrants and smugglers.
Border Security Minister Angela Eagle even admitted it would “take time” to have an impact during an extraordinary row with Mr Philp.
But the Shadow Home Secretary told the Daily Express: “Labour ministers are scrambling to defend a deal they clearly haven’t even read.
“Dame Angela Eagle might think the treaty is watertight, but the truth is it is littered with loopholes.
“The meaning of Article 4 is clear in black and white.
“If the Home Office are now denying it, they either don’t understand what they have written or have simply made a foolish mistake.
“There are no numbers specified, presumably because they are so small they would embarrass the Home Secretary.
“France won’t even tell us any information about who we have to accept back, so they could be criminals or terrorists, and we wouldn’t know.
“I saw it with my own eyes – French warships escorting dinghies in the Channel on the very day Labour’s big new deal was meant to come into effect. You couldn’t make it up.”
Mr Philp challenged Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to watch the crisis in the Channel unfold from the water.
And former Border Force chief Tony Smith said: “The reason Rwanda never got off the ground was because of unrelenting opposition and delay by Labour in the Commons and the Lords.
“Constant legal challenges by human rights lawyers both in the UK and ECHR. That would have been a much better deterrent than this deal.”
The new treaty enforcing the “one-in, one-out” deal between London and Paris came into force on Tuesday.
Under the agreement, France will be able to hide crucial details about the asylum seekers they are sending to the UK.
They can also refuse to take any Channel migrant that poses a “threat to public policy, internal security, public health or the international relations of any of the Schengen States.”
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And small boat arrivals with "made up" human rights claims will be allowed to stay in the UK until they have exhausted all their legal challenges.
Fresh confusion erupted after Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy claimed migrants sent back across the Channel could have their human rights claims heard in France, despite the text of the Treaty stating otherwise.
Britain will also pay for the transportation costs of every migrant transferred to and from France.
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