Migrants deported back to France ‘vanish’ as some vow to cross Channel | Politics | News
Migrants returned to France under Keir Starmerโs โone-in-one-outโ deal with Emmanuel Macron have vowed to cross the Channel again.
The failed asylum seekers on Tuesday insisted they โdonโt have any choiceโ amid fears of persecution in their home countries.
And under the EUโs Dublin Regulations, they may not be allowed to claim asylum in France.
Some have already vanished from their asylum accommodation in Paris, leading to fears they may be heading back to the French coast.
Amongst those missing is an Indian national who could be the first person removed under the scheme.
โAliโ and โAbdulโ told Channel 4 News: โWe are just looking for a safe [place]. If we have a chance to go back legally.
โWe would. I will try my best to again to go to the UK. I don’t have any choice. If I go [back] to my country, the government will kill me. I think I’ll be (only) safe in the UK.โ
Ali told the broadcaster: โWe donโt understand why we were detained. Why us?
“My country is at war. If I go back, I will be arrested or killed.”
‘Aliโ claimed his โfuture is destroyed because of the UK governmentโ, with both men saying they were led to believe in the UK that once deported, they would still be given the opportunity to claim asylum.
โAbdulโ, from Yemen, said he fled armed groups during his countryโs civil war. โWhen we landed, we felt safe when we saw the British flag,โ he recalled. โBut a few hours later, we were under detention.โ
Ali also claimed the people smugglers who brought him to the UK want to kill him over an alleged debt โ a similar claim made by an Iranian national who made it back across the Channel.
โAliโ – who travelled from East Africa to the UK with his childhood friend – says his friend is now in a hotel in the UK and he was given no reason for why he was selected to be returned.
He claims being deported left him feeling suicidal, adding: โI see so many people in the street after two months or after one month, it may be like this for me,
โThey say France is a safe country, but it’s not safe for me. There is an acute lack of housing in Paris and the men have been told they may face homelessness.
โWhy would we throw ourselves into the boat? It was difficult. If someone has a chance to claim asylum, he wouldn’t throw himself on a boatโ.
The revelations come after an Iranian national, who claims he was threatened at gunpoint and abused by people smugglers, fled a shelter in Paris because he was “afraid for my life” in the French capital and crossed the Channel again.
Labour politicians have claimed the scandal shows the system is working because they were able to identify him immediately and fast-track him for deported.
The failed asylum seeker first arrived in the UK on August 6, before being removed on September 19.
Ms Mahmood is said to have been โfuriousโ about the farce and sources say the Iranian national will be โdeported as soon as possibleโ.
But the Iranian asylum seeker, who has not been named, said he was filled with โterror and stressโ in France.
He said: โIf I had felt that France was safe for me, I would never have returned to the UK.
“When we were returned to France we were taken to a shelter in Paris. I didnโt dare to go out because I was afraid for my life. The smugglers are very dangerous. They always carry weapons and knives. I fell into the trap of a human trafficking network in the forests of France before I crossed to the UK from France the first time.
โThey took me like a worthless object, forced me to work, abused me, and threatened me with a gun and told me I would be killed if I made the slightest protest.
โEvery day and every night I was filled with terror and stress. Every day I live in fear and anxiety, every loud noise, every shadow, every strange face scares me.
โWhen I reached the UK the first time and the Home Office asked what had happened to me, I was crying and couldnโt speak about this because of shame.โ
