Asylum seeker sent back to France in ‘one in, one out’ scheme to be returned to Syria | Immigration and asylum
An asylum seeker sent back to France under a controversial “one in, one out” scheme faces being sent back to Syria after authorities in Paris decided it was safe to do so. This is believed to be the first of its kind.
When British prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron announced a “groundbreaking” deal in July 2025 to stop small boats full of asylum seekers crossing the Channel – forcibly returning one of the small boat asylum seekers to France and in return bringing one in northern France legally to the UK – they stressed France was a safe country for returnees.
Now, in what is thought to be the first incident of its kind, a 26-year-old Syrian Kurdish man who arrived in the UK on a small boat and was sent back to France last November has had his asylum claim in France rejected by authorities. In his rejection letter, it is stated that Syria will be safe for him.
One of the key problems with the previous British government’s failed plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was the risk of them returning from there to unsafe countries. Syria is not there recently updated List of EU safe countries for returning refugees
Despite this, the man’s rejection letter states: “The individual… has not presented any relevant arguments to persuade the office that his personal circumstances would pose a serious and individual threat to his life or person should he return to his country.”
According to the Guardian, the asylum interview to determine his future in France lasted 1 hour and 12 minutes, followed by another 49-minute interview. Much of the interview focused on asking him to prove that he lived in the village he said he did.
The man fled Syria last year after his village headman told him that his name was on the conscription list of the YPG, the Kurdish militia in the region. “I didn’t want to go to war and kill people,” he said.
He escaped with his family members, including his mother and younger siblings. They used smugglers to cross the border from Syria to Türkiye, where the smugglers separated him from the rest of his family and forced him into a different truck.
“I don’t know what happened to my family. I haven’t been able to contact them since the smugglers separated us,” he said.
“I’m so stressed about what happened to me that my hair started falling out. I’m 26 and I’m too young to lose my hair. I don’t know what to do now. I followed the ‘one in, one out’ rules and requested asylum in France, but my request was rejected.
“I am the first asylum seeker to return to France and receive this rejection. If I return to the UK on a small boat, the Home Office will catch me and detain me again. If I go back to Syria, the YPG militia will capture me. What should I do?”
Since September 2025, under the one-in, one-out system and as of 24 April, 561 people have been taken to France after arriving in the UK on small boats, and 551 people have been brought legally to the UK. Just a few days before these figures were announced, 602 refugees arrived on small boats on April 18, raising questions about the deterrent value of the plan.
Immigration lawyer Sonia Lenegan said: “This case is an example of the real risk involved in sending people back to France. Many of the people traveling across the Channel are refugees, which means the UK recognizes that they face danger in their home country. In sending people back to France, the UK puts them at risk of being sent back to the country where they face persecution, contrary to the refugee convention.”
The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants this week launched a letter-writing campaign against five airlines flying in and out of France. So far, more than 6,500 people have sent letters to airlines asking them to stop participating in “inhumane and racist” deportations.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Under our repatriation agreement with France, we have deported more than 600 illegal immigrants from British territory. This adds to nearly 60,000 illegal immigrants returned since July 2025, a 31% increase on the previous 19 months.”
Home Office sources said Syrian asylum seekers whose claims were rejected in the UK could be sent back if it was safe to do so, and the government was working with Syrian authorities to facilitate this. The sources added that anyone who is at risk of persecution or serious harm upon return will not be sent back to Syria.
The French interior ministry has been approached for comment.
