Exclusive: Asylum seeker says he made second crossing because he did not feel safe in France
A man sent back to France under the “one in, one out” scheme has returned to the UK on a small boat, the Guardian has learned.
The man, who wants to claim asylum in the UK, and has spoken to the Guardian since coming back, is being held in a UK immigration detention centre and claims to be a victim of modern slavery at the hands of smugglers in northern France.
Home Office sources have confirmed that one person sent to France under the UK-France treaty – which allows people who cross the Channel to Britain in small boats to be sent back in exchange for bringing the same number in France to the UK via a legal route – is now in the UK.
“If I had felt that France was safe for me I would never have returned to the UK,” the man claimed.
