Migrants will be allowed into UK from France for up to three months
They will not be allowed access to public funds and will also be barred from working or studying during the initial three month period, while the Home Office considers whether it will grant a longer visa. It is unclear where the migrants will be housed, however, opening the prospect of them being placed in taxpayer-funded hotels. Furthermore, it is not known what would happen to migrants allowed into Britain under the scheme if their applications were later refused.
The Home Office also confirmed applicants could be penalised of they fail to 'present for travel to the UK, without reasonable excuse, when directed by the Home Office'. The number of people accepted from France will have a 'cap' equal to the number of small boat migrants who are sent back under the deal, the documents showed. But the Home Office was unable to confirm the level of the cap. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'There are scant details as yet but this risks turning into yet another wide open door into the UK.
'It is not clear what will happen if the Home Office accepts people whose applications are rejected later on, and whether they can be removed. 'And what if the Home Office accepts people without being able to remove the same number to France due to legal challenges? 'There are a lot of unanswered questions and this risks descending into yet another Labour borders farce.'
It came after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper refused to say how many migrants will be returned under the deal because it 'could help the smuggling gangs'. Migrants who arrive by small boat from tomorrow could face being selected for the scheme and placed in detention. Ms Cooper told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'We will provide regular updates, people will be able to see how many people are being detained, how many people are being returned, and it is right that we should be transparent around that.
'But we're not setting the numbers in advance, firstly because there is no fixed number in terms of the overall number of people to come through this system, and secondly because we're not going to provide (gangs) with that operational information.' The agreement with Emmanuel Macron's government will lapse at the end of June next year – just 47 weeks away – unless it is renewed. Last month it was suggested the scheme would see 50 migrants a week sent back to France. At that rate, just 2,350 would be returned before the agreement expires.
By comparison, a record 25,436 migrants have reached Britain by small boat since the start of the year, up 49 per cent on the same period last year. Meanwhile, pro-migrant groups have already indicated they are poised to bring legal challenges – just as they did against the previous Conservative government's Rwanda asylum deal. Steve Valdez-Symonds of Amnesty International UK said: 'We anticipate that this deal is likely to face legal challenges from people who quite reasonably will resist being swapped around like mere fodder rather than addressing the claim for asylum they have made.
'Once again, refugees are treated like parcels, not people, while the public is left to pay the price for yet another cruel, costly failure dressed up as policy. 'If and when there is some real detail on how this deal is intended to work, Amnesty will of course consider what further steps we ought to take.' Natasha Tsangarides, of the charity Freedom from Torture, said: 'While this pilot offers a pathway to sanctuary for a small number of refugees, it will rely on the mass detention of survivors of torture and persecution.
'We know from our therapy rooms how profoundly harmful any time in detention is for people who've been through the unimaginable horrors of torture. 'Many survivors were tortured in detention, so locking them up again reopens deep psychological scars and can set them back significantly on their road to recovery. 'A more secure world for everyone depends on international cooperation not only to ensure safety for survivors but also to stop repression.' From tomorrow, any new Channel arrivals will be taken to the Home Office's processing centre at Manston, near Ramsgate, Kent, and assessed by Border Force officials.
Any selected for the returns scheme will be transferred to short-term immigration holding facilities operated by the Home Office, such as those at Heathrow and Gatwick airports. After further assessment, they could be sent to an immigration removal centre to await return to France. The first migrants will be returned by the end of August and detention space has already been set aside for the launch of the scheme. The deal was agreed by PM Sir Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron last month after a summit at Downing Street.
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