The first group of migrants who crossed the English Channel are due to be deported to France on 15 September 2025 under a pilot "one-in, one-out" treaty between the United Kingdom and France, the Home Office and media reports said.
Removal notices have been served on asylum seekers who arrived last month, and officials expect multiple flights this week. British media reported that the deportations will be carried out on Air France commercial services rather than on charter aircraft, and that four flights could be used with as few as 10 migrants on each.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "Under the new UK–France treaty, people crossing in small boats can now be detained and removed to France. We expect the first returns to take place imminently. Protecting the UK border is our top priority. We will do whatever it takes to restore order to secure our borders." The department declined to give a running total of removals expected in the first week.
The pilot scheme, agreed by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in July, establishes that for each person returned to France the UK will accept someone who has applied and been approved to come from France. When the two leaders announced the deal they suggested it could see about 50 people a week returned to France while the pilot runs through 11 June 2026.
At least 100 people who crossed the Channel in early August were detained and placed in immigration removal centres, officials said. An undisclosed number of those have received formal removal directions from the Home Office.
David Wood, the former head of immigration enforcement, said officials would seek to select detainees likely to comply in order to minimise disruption during commercial flights. "The main challenge is if the migrants become disruptive on the flight, and when they are held in detention other migrants spread that knowledge," he said.
Conservative critics said the returns will face immediate legal challenges. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, who served as an immigration minister in a previous government, said ministers would be inundated with last-minute legal applications aimed at preventing removals. He also questioned the scheme's deterrent effect, citing figures that he said showed large numbers continue to cross the Channel. "The Government will be hit with a slew of last-minute legal challenges," he said, and argued that a small number of removals would not reduce crossings.
Advocates for migrants have warned that routine removal from the UK to France will raise legal and humanitarian issues, including the processing of asylum claims and the handling of modern slavery allegations. The Home Office has said that existing legal safeguards remain in place and that removals will proceed within the rules of domestic and international law.
Official statistics show arrivals by small boats have risen this year. Reports put the total number of people arriving in the UK by this route at 31,026 so far in 2025, an increase of 38 percent compared with the same period last year, underscoring the scale of the wider migration challenge the pilot seeks to address.
The trial returns are limited in scope and duration, and the government has framed them as part of a wider effort to reduce small-boat crossings and restore control of the UK border. Legal representatives for migrants and rights groups have said they will monitor the removals closely and are prepared to bring challenges where they believe claims to asylum or protection have not been properly considered.
Officials will face operational decisions about the selection of returnees, the use of commercial aircraft, and the management of potential legal interventions. How quickly the pilot can be scaled up — or whether it will be slowed by court rulings or logistical constraints — will shape assessments of its effectiveness over the coming months.