Nearly 50 asylum seekers returned to France under the UK’s “one in, one out” migration agreement have been detected re-entering Britain.
The scheme, introduced in September 2025, allows the UK to return migrants who arrive illegally by small boat to France in exchange for accepting an equivalent number of asylum seekers (with a purported UK-connection) through legal channels. The policy is intended to deter dangerous Channel crossings and undermine migrant-smuggling networks.
When previous prime minister Keir Starmer unveiled the migrant returns agreement with French president Emmanuel Macron, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage branded it a “humiliation for Brexit Britain” and warned that Channel crossings are spiralling out of control. Events have proven Farage correct.
According to the Guardian, 49 migrants who had previously been returned to France were later found attempting to enter the UK again. Officials also believe that an unknown number may have re-entered undetected.
As of June 30, 2026, 1,087 migrants had been returned to France under the agreement, while France had transferred 1,117 asylum seekers to the UK through legal routes.
The Home Office says the agreement with France has been amended so that migrants who return to Britain after being removed will once again be sent back to France.
The report comes as small-boat crossings have fallen by around 43% so far this year.
Analysts caution, however, that several factors may be contributing to the decline, including less favourable weather conditions, a broader reduction in so-called irregular (i.e. illegal) migration into Europe, and intensified cooperation between British and French authorities against smuggling gangs.
The current agreement has so far resulted in the return of only around 4% of migrants arriving by small boat.
Some migrants who attempted to return to Britain have argued that they faced insecurity in France or feared being transferred by French authorities to the European Union country where they were first registered under the bloc’s asylum rules.
As europeanconservative.com’s Lauren Smith observed when the scheme was first launched, there’s “nothing ‘deterring’ about a system that consistently rewards illegal migration.”
