In this aerial view inflatable dinghies and outboard motors believed to have been used by illegal migrants to cross the English channel from France to England are stored in a Home Office compound on May 12, 2025 in Dover, England.
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The U.K. has returned the first person to France, under a migrant return deal signed by the French and British governments in July. The man is an Indian citizen as per reporting from the BBC and the Telegraph. The French Interior Ministry confirmed for The Hindu that one migrant was received by France on Wednesday (September 17, 2025) but declined to confirm citizenship details.The deal to return migrants arriving on ‘small boats’ from France across the English Channel was announced during French President Emmanuel Macron’s State visit to the U.K. in July. For every migrant returned to France, the U.K. will accept a vetted migrant from France under the ‘one-in one-out’ arrangement. Preference would be given to those who have U.K. ties.Also Read | U.K., France announce migration deal, say Ukraine peacekeeping coalition is ready“A man who arrived in the U.K. by small boat in August was removed on a commercial flight this morning marking another major step in the government’s action to dismantle the criminal networks profiting from human misery,” the U.K. Home Office said in a statement that did not specify the man’s citizenship.
