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Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has confirmed that Keir Starmer’s returns agreement with France remains on track, even after a judicial injunction blocked the deportation of an asylum-seeking man.

Kendall stated that the last-minute court order stopping the individual from being sent to Paris will not derail the “one in, one out” plan permanently.

Earlier this week, a judge granted a short-term injunction after the anonymous man argued he was a victim of trafficking and risked destitution if sent back to France.

Kendall stated on Times Radio that she would not comment on operational details, but added: “It involves one person, and will not weaken the core principle of this deal.”

Judicial and Operational Hurdles

A solicitor acting for migrants criticized the administration’s “arbitrary and chaotic approach” to choosing individuals for removal, including cases where children were wrongly identified.

Imogen Townley from her firm said: “They have taken quite an arbitrary and chaotic approach to selecting people arriving on small boats.”

She noted that minors were being caught up in the system even though they should be exempted from such procedures.

Accounts indicated that two underage boys were wrongly selected for the scheme previously.

Context of the Deal

UK authorities last month held many Channel migrants under the scheme, vowing to return them to France “in a short time.”

Initially, removals were scheduled on regular air services from Heathrow to Paris during this week, but none have been sent back as of yet.

Officials now face the possibility of additional legal challenges and delays. Sources indicated that at least five more people were earmarked for return this week.

Some critics have drawn parallels the situation to the previous administration’s overseas deportation plan, which faced repeated court obstacles. But, unlike that policy, the present appeals involve specific persons rather than the entire program.

Details of the Agreement

As part of the deal, signed in July by Starmer and France’s president, the UK committed to hold small boat migrants and send them back to France. In exchange, France would accept a comparable quantity of asylum seekers with family ties in the UK.

The prime minister said at the time: “This isn’t a silver bullet, but with a joint attempt, new tactics and a greater degree of intent, we can finally make progress.”

Recently, the judge who issued the short-term injunction stated that more time was needed to look into the man’s assertion that he was a potential victim of human trafficking.

The court heard that the man and his mother had gone to Ethiopia when he was a young child, and that he was later trafficked from there to Libya in 2023.

He claimed he had afterward traveled via Italy to France, and arrived in the UK by small boat on 12 August after his mother gave £1,000 to traffickers.

Future Plans

French officials has been preparing to fly asylum seekers to the UK over the weekend as part of the reciprocal agreement.

A French interior ministry spokesperson commented: “The first migrants are still scheduled to come in France from the UK this week. and the first to leave from France will start on Saturday.”