Starmer urged to consider one-in, one-out migrant exchange scheme
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to use next month's UK-France summit to strike a one-in, one-out migrant returns deal.
A report by the Migration Policy Institute, a global immigration think tank based in Washington DC, has set out detailed proposals for France and the UK to pursue before the summit.
It proposes setting up a series of hubs across France which would screen asylum seekers for eligibility for the UK. Under the plans, France would take back one small boat migrant for each asylum seeker resettled to the UK from the hubs.
It would be modelled on the United States' Safe Mobility Offices scheme, which was introduced by the Biden administration in 2023 across countries in South and Central America to screen migrants for asylum before they are exploited by people smugglers and trafficked across borders.
It helped individuals find support and access a wide range of services in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Guatemala and was credited with a reduction in illegal migration from the countries.
In April France opened the door to taking back Channel migrants for the first time after Bruno Retailleau, the French interior minister, said that it would 'send a clear message' to others planning to make the journey.
• Chaos on a French beach as police try to stop migrants
His comments have raised hopes among officials and ministers in the UK government that a breakthrough is possible after failed attempts by successive UK governments to persuade France to agree to take back migrants who have crossed the Channel in small boats.
More than 100 migrants are estimated to have crossed the Channel on Thursday, taking the total number of arrivals over the last nine days to more than 2,500.
A total of 17,278 have arrived so far this year, up 50 per cent compared with last year. Downing Street admitted earlier this week that the situation in the Channel was 'deteriorating'.
The Migration Policy Institute report proposes that the hubs in France would prioritise individuals with connections in Britain and those from countries with high asylum grant rates such as Sudan, which has a 98 per cent acceptance rate, and Eritrea, which has an 86 per cent grant rate.
It recommends starting with a pilot programme that would exchange one migrant back to France for each asylum seeker going the other way following successful screening.
The programme should operate with a monthly quota that is linked to the numbers returned to France from the UK.
• How small boats crisis is linked to rise in rough sleeping
The think tank said that the scheme would provide predictable admissions numbers that the UK government could communicate clearly to the public and would regain control of its borders.
The report suggests using artificial intelligence to help support processing migrants' applications at the hubs.
It argues that such a system would strengthen the deterrent effect of a returns agreement between the two countries because it would provide a viable and safe alternative to smuggler-facilitated crossings for a segment of the population most at risk of making such journeys.
It would also reduce the danger of migrant journeys for the most vulnerable migrants who are most likely to be granted asylum, thereby saving lives.
The detailed report also recommends creating a bilateral digital screening pilot that would mirror the EU's Eurodac scheme, which shares the fingerprints and other details of asylum seekers.
• French police tear-gas child migrants trying to board dinghy
This Eurodac-lite scheme would enable British border officials to check the biometrics of arrivals in the UK against the Eurodac system and thereby facilitate re-admissions from the UK to France. French liaison officers could be stationed at UK intake sites with secure tablets granting read‑only access to Eurodac data.
The report said that combining re-admissions with a viable legal alternative held the best chance of curtailing the pull factors for these crossings.
The UK-France summit, to be held on July 8-10, is also expected to rubber stamp new French police tactics allowing officers to intercept migrant boats up to 300 metres into the water.
However, Care4Calais, the charity that led the successful legal challenge against the Rwanda policy, has said it is considering legal action against the plans.
The Migration Policy Institute also proposes that France and the UK operate shared charter flights to reduce the possibility of secondary attempts to cross the Channel.
Insufficient flight capacity is one of the major obstacles for France's attempts to deport migrants, according to the report.
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