Asylum Seekers Returned to France Return to UK in Lorries
Asylum seekers who arrived in the UK via small boats and were forcibly returned to France under the controversial “one in, one out” arrangement have been found to have returned to the UK by lorry, has learned.
The Home Office stated that individuals who return to the UK after removal to France are detained and sent back to France at the earliest opportunity. Amnesty International UK has called for the policy to be scrapped.
is aware of at least four individuals who have returned to the UK by lorry in the last two weeks. Two of these, arriving in separate lorries on 5 March and 7 March, are currently held in detention centres. Both reported being forcibly returned to the UK by smugglers aiming to undermine the “one in, one out” scheme, which entails one person crossing the Channel in a small boat being sent back to France in exchange for another person from northern France entering the UK legally.
The other two returnees arrived in a lorry on 12 March as part of a larger group whose backgrounds remain unknown. They are believed to be living in London without official documentation.
Shift in Crossing Methods
Before 2018, lorries were the primary method for asylum seekers crossing the Channel. Upon arrival, they typically reported to police stations to claim asylum. After security measures in northern France were increased to prevent boarding lorries, smugglers began offering small boats as an alternative crossing method.
The Home Office collects biometric data and interviews all individuals arriving by small boats. Asylum seekers have indicated that smugglers are increasingly offering lorry crossings again as an alternative, although small boat crossings remain frequent. The cost of a lorry crossing is reportedly three to four times higher than that of a dinghy crossing, according to asylum seekers.
Accounts from Returnees
One of the two men currently detained after returning spoke to following his second detention. He said he was apprehended by police inside a lorry upon its arrival in Dover earlier this month.
“The smugglers know where the shelter is in Paris where people sleep in the first few days after being returned to France. They caught me near the shelter and sent me back to UK by force in a lorry. The smugglers have guns, they control everything, we have to try to stay alive.”
The second man reported a similar experience, stating he was caught by smugglers near the Paris shelter and forcibly returned to the UK in a lorry. He was not apprehended upon arrival in the UK but later went to a police station to declare himself and was subsequently detained.
“I don’t want to live illegally in any country,” he said. “I can’t survive without documentation. France is not safe for me.”
Calls to End the ‘One In, One Out’ Agreement
Steve Valdez-Symonds, programme director for refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty UK, urged the government to abandon the “one in, one out” agreement.
“Government efforts – including this agreement – to deter and stop people seeking asylum have instead entrenched the power of smuggling gangs over journeys that refugees need to make. If governments will not join in sharing responsibility for providing rather than attempting to deny asylum, that miserable situation will not change,”
“The agreement should be abandoned and discussion opened with the French and other governments about establishing safe routes to enable refugees, especially those with family and other connection here, to reach this country with as little dependence on smugglers as can be made possible.”
Home Office Response
A Home Office spokesperson said:
“France is our closest migration partner and through our joint work, 40,000 small boat crossing attempts have been stopped since this Government came into office. French maritime forces have agreed to intercept small boats on the water and our landmark agreement means those who arrive on small boats are now being sent back.
Individuals who try to return are detected by biometrics, detained instantly and returned at the earliest opportunity, having wasted their time and money.”
