A small boat migrant was today deported to France after losing a High Court bid to have his removal under the Government’s ‘one-in, one-out’ scheme temporarily blocked.
The Eritrean man claimed he was an ‘alleged trafficking victim’ with his barristers asking the court for an ‘interim relief’.
His legal challenge argued that his deportation would risk multiple human rights breaches.
The migrant, who cannot be named, arrived in the UK on a small boat last month and brought a claim against the Home Office yesterday, ahead of his scheduled removal from the UK at 6.15am on Friday.
At a hearing in London, his barristers said that the decision was ‘procedurally unfair’ as he had not been given sufficient opportunity to put forward evidence supporting his claim that he was an ‘alleged trafficking victim’.
The Home Office opposed the bid to temporarily block the removal, telling the court that there was ‘no serious issue to be tried’.
In a ruling, Mr Justice Sheldon said: ‘In my judgment, the application for interim relief is refused.
‘The test for injunctive relief is not made out. I consider that there is no serious issue to be tried in this case.’
Judge Sheldon said that the man claimed he was ‘forced to flee Eritrea in 2019 because of forced conscription’ and spent time in Ethiopia, South Sudan and Libya.
He travelled to France, where he stayed in Paris for around a week, and the man claimed that he was ‘homeless and destitute, and constantly feared for his life’.
He then went to Dunkirk, where he stayed in an encampment known as ‘the jungle’ for around three weeks, without claiming asylum in France.
Migrants seen embarking from Gravelines beach in northern France last month
The man arrived in the UK via a small boat and was detained by the UK Border Force on August 6, and was told that his asylum claim in the UK was inadmissible on August 9, Mr Justice Sheldon said.
The decision comes after another Eritrean man successfully asked the court on Tuesday to temporarily block his deportation after the same judge found there was a ‘serious issue to be tried’ over whether his removal was lawful amid claims he had been trafficked.
In that case, the court heard that the national referral mechanism (NRM) – which identifies and assesses victims of slavery and human trafficking – found that the man had likely not been trafficked, but offered him time to make further representations.
Mr Justice Sheldon said there was ‘still room for further investigation into the trafficking claim’.
Following Tuesday’s hearing, the Home Office revised its policy on reconsidering modern slavery decisions, so that anyone being removed to a safe country who wants to appeal against an NRM decision will be unable to do so.
Instead, they can launch a legal challenge from another country, such as France.
