Labour’s efforts to ramp up one-in-one-out deportations to France hit by fresh legal challenges

Labor’s efforts to increase deportations to France under its one-in, one-out plan could be thrown into turmoil by new legal claims from immigrants challenging the legality of the deal.

Immigrants detained under the program launched last August argued in the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the government was neglecting victims of human trafficking.

The 16 migrants, some of whom have been deported to France, claim that French authorities do not support victims of human trafficking and that men in France do not receive the same assistance as women and children.

They also oppose the Home Office’s policy of preventing immigrants from appealing decisions made regarding modern slavery allegations. The legality of the way the plan is being implemented will be fully assessed at a hearing at a later date.

His Honor Justice Chamberlain heard that as of the end of January, 40 per cent of immigrants detained under a one-for-one, one-for-one deportation agreement had made allegations of trafficking. Home Office lawyers said any decision made about how the government deals with trafficking victims would have a major impact on their ability to implement the plan.

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As of February 5, 312 people were brought to France and 365 people were brought to England.

The Home Office’s Kate Grange KC said: “40 per cent of historical cases so far have involved allegations of smuggling, so this is not an insignificant figure.”

The court heard that around 48 migrants had taken legal action to stop their deportation under the scheme and four of them had been successful.

Mr Justice Chamberlain acknowledged that the number of legal claims from immigrants was “placing pressure on court resources”.

Ms Grange KC stressed that “people were accommodated” and had access to medical support when they arrived in France. He added: “There is no risk [if individuals are sent to France]people can bring with them [legal] “They will make a request to France and they will be supported, they will get the shelter they need and the medical support they need.”

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But the High Court heard that one of the migrants, known only as DNG, was at risk of suicide because he was taken to France under the deal. The court was told his brother committed suicide in France and he also had serious mental health problems.

The Home Office argued DNG had accessed psychiatric support in France and said it would oppose his application to return to the UK.

Two of the migrants were also involved in age disputes with the Home Office after claiming they were children. The court heard that a deportation flight to Paris was planned for next week as part of the programme, but no flights took place this week.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs last week that “clearly we would want to see a much larger number of people deported” under a one-to-one deal.

He said the pilot program “proved the concept” but that legal challenges and detention capacity limits in Britain and France limited expansion.