The British government announced a new ‘one-in, one-out’ proposal for the removal of migrants making illegal Channel crossings. Subject to France’s agreement, the measure would see Britain send individuals arriving illegally on UK shores to France, in exchange for accepting asylum seekers based in France who have a plausible connection to Britain, such as a family member already there.
The proposal, made public on Friday, June 27th, would be put to President Emmanuel Macron of France during his state visit to London next week. It would also see returns of those caught making repeated attempts to visit the UK illegally.
French interior minister Bruno Retailleau hoped such a deal would “send a clear message” to those planning to undertake the perilous journey across the major shipping lane. Westminster may also be encouraged by a proposed French crackdown on human traffickers using ‘taxi boats’ as part of their criminal business model. Previously, Retailleau’s government has poured scorn on ‘one in one out,’ since it would need to be accepted as a European Union-wide programme for it to apply in France.
One major shortcoming of the proposed scheme—the UK exchanging asylum seekers from France with family connections in Britain for a matching number of Channel migrants being returned to France—is that it is unlikely to address the sheer numbers involved.
Calm summer waters now mean that, using any of the main metrics, records for illegal ‘small boat’ migration into Britain are being broken on an almost daily basis.
