Labour’s ‘one in, one out’ scheme was falling apart last night after a migrant deported to France returned to Britain on a small boat.
The Iranian man’s second dinghy crossing took place just 29 days after he was kicked out of the country under Sir Keir Starmer‘s flagship borders policy.
The Conservatives said the debacle showed the Government’s returns deal with France was ‘descending into farce’.
Home Office sources confirmed the unnamed man first arrived here on August 6 – the day the deal with France came into force – and was detained before being removed from Britain on September 19 on a scheduled flight.
But he later slipped out of a migrant shelter in Paris, where he had been housed, and headed back to the northern French coast.
There he boarded a dinghy back to the UK, arriving alongside 368 others on Saturday.
Border officials identified him as a returning migrant through biometric checks and he is now once again being held in an immigration removal centre, waiting to be sent back for a second time.
The Iranian claims he is not safe in France and is a victim of modern slavery at the hands of people trafficking gangs. Such claims are being used in court appeals attempting to thwart the removals process.
Dozens of young men run ashore from a deflating dinghy in France yesterday. More than 60,000 have now arrived in the UK since Labour won power
It came as two significant milestones were passed when more than 100 new small boat migrants reached Britain yesterday.
The total number to have arrived since Labour came to power has now soared past 60,000. And this year has seen the second highest annual number of small boat migrants since the crisis began nearly seven years ago, topping the 36,816 witnessed last year.
Since Labour’s returns deal came into force on August 6, about 11,400 small boat migrants have reached Britain.
Only 42 have been sent back, including the man who has now returned.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘The Government’s gimmick returns scheme is descending into farce.
‘They can’t even ensure the handful of people they return to France actually stay there – and now this man has come back to the UK and is using a modern slavery claim to stay.
‘Only 42 people have been returned to France over a time when 10,000 have arrived. This is clearly no deterrent at all.
‘We need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights to allow us to remove all illegal immigrants within a week of arrival. But Labour is too weak to do that.’
A group of migrants were seen boarding a small boat towards the UK on Gravelines beach, between Calais and Dunkirk, at first light yesterday.
Roughly 30 were pictured scrambling aboard the dinghy before it set off towards Dover, while French police vehicles on the sand dunes tried to deter potential crossings.
In an interview from a removal centre, the Iranian migrant at the centre of the new farce told The Guardian newspaper: ‘If I had felt that France was safe for me I would never have returned to the UK.
‘When we were returned to France we were taken to a shelter in Paris. I didn’t dare to go out because I was afraid for my life. The smugglers are very dangerous.
‘I fell into the trap of a human trafficking network in the forests of France before I crossed to the UK the first time.
‘They forced me to work, abused me, and threatened me with a gun and told me I would be killed if I made the slightest protest.’
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood was said to be furious when told of the Iranian’s back-and-forth journeys.
But yesterday she continued to blame the Tories for the deepening crisis and even boasted about ‘our historic deal with the French’.
She said: ‘The previous government left our borders in crisis, and we are still living with the consequences.
‘Our historic deal with the French means those who arrive on small boats are now being sent back.
‘But it is clear we must go further and faster – removing more of those here illegally, and stopping migrants from making small boat crossings in the first place.
‘I will do whatever it takes to restore order to our border.’
The Home Office is now trying urgently to return the migrant to France again. He was the third to be removed under the scheme.
Some 23 migrants have been let into Britain under the terms of the deal. Most are expected to claim asylum.
The Prime Minister scrapped the Tories’ Rwanda scheme as one of his first acts in office.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: ‘Migration Watch has warned time and time again that without proper deterrence or effective action against those crossing the Channel illegally, numbers would go on rocketing.
‘This is no way to control the border. The public have had enough of talk and gimmicks with no action.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We will not accept any abuse of our borders, and we will do everything in our power to remove those without the legal right to be here.’
