Not one migrant has been sent back to France under post-Brexit rules
NO asylum seekers have been forcibly returned to France under post-Brexit border rules, official figures showed last night.
Since January last year only 21 ‘enforced removals’ have been carried out against claimants who travelled through a safe country to Britain. None has been removed to France, even though 70,000 have crossed the Channel by small boat over this time.
The 21 returns were made to Germany, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland.
The Home Office introduced rules to allow asylum cases to be declared ‘inadmissible’ if applicants had a connection with a safe third country, including passing through another state on the way here. Between those measures coming into force in January 2021 and September this year, more than 20,600 asylum claims were considered. But only 83 asylum seekers were issued with ‘inadmissibility decisions’ – meaning another country was ‘considered to be responsible for the claim’.
The measures rely on other countries agreeing to accept the asylum seekers back and only 21 cases have led to deportations.
Just under 9,800 cases were eventually put back into the asylum queue to have their cases considered. The tiny number of removals will raise fresh doubts over the Government’s suggestion that it can address the Channel crisis by declaring claims inadmissible.
The regime for dealing with inadmissible claims was introduced at the end of the Brexit transition period. It was intended to replace a European Union scheme – known as the ‘Dublin Regulation’ – which allows asylum seekers who pass through another EU nation to be
‘Move heaven and earth’
sent back there, reducing so-called ‘asylum shopping’.
Earlier this year the then home secretary Priti Patel took steps to bolster the inadmissibility powers by enshrining them in primary legislation.
The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 allows the Home Office to declare an asylum application ‘inadmissible’ if the claimant has a link with a ‘safe third country’. However, it did allow exceptions, including on human rights grounds.
The latest figures suggest even the strengthening of the law, which came into force on June 28, has failed to have an impact on the number of ineligible asylum seekers who are removed from the UK.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman last month vowed to ‘move heaven and earth’ to tighten the law yet further, effectively barring anyone who crosses the Channel by small boat from claiming asylum. Her plans have not been revealed.
This week she told MPs that publication of an immigration Bill that had been planned originally by the end of next month might now ‘slip’ into the new year.
The Mail reported yesterday that the asylum backlog has soared by more than 21,000 in three months to 148,533. Of those, 143,377 cases were awaiting an initial decision, and more than 5,000 were ‘pending review’. Three years ago the total stood at just 48,000.
A crackdown on foreign students risks many universities going bust, a government adviser warned yesterday. Professor Brian Bell, who chairs the migration advisory committee, said: ‘Most universities for most courses lose money on teaching British students and offset that loss by charging more for international students.’
The Government is considering restrictions on international students bringing dependants into the country after net migration soared.