Migrant faces ‘real risk of destitution’ if removed to France, High Court told

An Eritrean man faces a “real risk of destitution” if he is deported to France under the Government’s “one in one out” policy, the High Court has been told.

The man is bringing the claim against the Home Office, and is due to be removed from the UK at 9am on Wednesday.

Lawyers for the man are asking the court for a temporary block on his removal.

The Home Office is defending the case saying that it was reasonable to expect the man to claim asylum in France.

Ministers agreed the pilot scheme with the French government in July as part of efforts to deter the record number of arrivals by small boat crossings so far this year.

The first detentions of migrants took place last month as the deal came into force, and they have been held at an immigration removal centre pending their removal from the country.

Despite the ongoing legal challenge, Downing Street insisted it expects deportations to begin “imminently” under the UK’s migrant returns deal with France.

Asked about the case at the High Court, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “As we’ve been saying the last couple of days, we have actually made the first detentions under the scheme and expect the first returns to take place imminently, but for obvious reasons we’re not going to get into a running commentary on operational details ahead of that.”

Sonali Naik KC, for the unnamed man, said a decision under the national referral mechanism decision – which identifies and assesses victims of slavery and human trafficking – was pending.

She told the court on Tuesday the man faces a “real risk of destitution” if he is put on a flight to France.

Ms Naik KC, said there is “a serious issue to be tried” about whether or not the man would be destitute if returned to France.

The court in London heard that the man was seeking “interim relief”, a temporary block on his removal to France, until his case could be fully heard.

The barrister continued: “We are not dealing with a charter flight, it is simply a postponement.”

Ms Naik told the court the case “concerns a trafficking claim” and that her client, who alleges he has a gunshot wound in his leg, claims he is vulnerable.

The court heard that about a third of asylum seekers in France are not accommodated and they are given a daily allowance of 7.50 euros.

Kate Grange KC, for the Home Office, said in written submissions that the man travelled to Italy in April 2025, before travelling to France and arriving in the UK in August 2025.

She continued: “The claimant asserts that he was destitute, but no less than two charities had indicated they would provide him with accommodation if he claimed asylum.

“It is no answer that the claimant had friends who had claimed asylum and were living on the street, or that he wasn’t sure how long accommodation was being offered.

“He could have claimed asylum.”

Ms Grange continued that the agreement between the UK and France “pursues an important public objective”.

She added: “Serious injury and death, including of children, from small boat crossings in the English Channel is a grave social and political concern at the present time.”

The barrister told the court that in 2024, 78 people directly linked to attempted Channel crossings died and that this week two children had been “crushed to death” in the bottom of a boat.

The deportation of migrants under the deal with France is yet to begin.

A second Air France flight departed from Heathrow on Tuesday without any migrants on board, according to reports.

Downing Street denied that the Government’s return deal with France was a shambles, or that its plans had been hampered by the courts.

Under the arrangement, the UK will send back to France asylum seekers who have crossed the Channel, in exchange for those who apply and are approved to come to Britain.