UK begins returning migrants to France under new agreement

The first migrants have been detained in the Channel under the UK-France returns agreement.

Photographs shared by The Telegraph, taken on Wednesday afternoon, show a UK Border Force boat carrying migrants, including children, to the Port of Dover on the day the pilot program came into effect.

The Home Office announced that those who arrived on Wednesday afternoon will be held in migrant detention centers before being returned to France.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, “We have detained the first illegal migrants under the new agreement, and we will return them to France. Those who enter this country illegally will face the risk of being sent back. When I say I will do everything to protect our borders, I mean it.”

The UK has approved an agreement with France that allows for those arriving on the island in small boats to be detained upon arrival and sent back across the English Channel. It is estimated that approximately 50 migrants will be returned to France each week, with this number expected to increase by the end of the year.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said, “The first group of people who crossed the English Channel were detained upon their arrival at the Western Jet Foil and will be held in custody until they are returned to France.”

She said the “groundbreaking new agreement” will “send a message to all migrants currently considering paying organized crime gangs to travel to the United Kingdom that if they board a small boat, they will be risking their lives and wasting their money.”

Starmer is facing public backlash over mass migration, with protests being held in front of hotels housing migrants across the UK, partly fueled by reports of crimes committed by asylum seekers.

On Monday, in an effort to quell the growing anger, the Prime Minister’s Office stated that police should be able to release information about the ethnicity of criminal suspects following demands for greater transparency.

Starmer’s agreement means that approximately 800 people will be taken back by France by the end of the year, in contrast to the tens of thousands of migrants who have arrived since the Labour Party won the election last July.

The “one in, one out” agreement means that a similar number of asylum seekers with family ties in the United Kingdom will be accepted by the UK.