NGOs appeal UK-France migrant exchange deal

Humanitarian and activist groups filed an appeal Tuesday in France to block a British-French migration deal that aims to deter record numbers of immigrants crossing the Channel to the United Kingdom. (AFP/File)

• “The implementation decree... is tainted with illegality, as it fails to comply with the procedure prescribed by the constitution,” the groups said
• The groups include Utopia 56, which works with migrants, and medical charity Doctors of the World

PARIS: Humanitarian and activist groups filed an appeal Tuesday in France to block a British-French migration deal that aims to deter record numbers of immigrants crossing the Channel to the United Kingdom.
The agreement features a “one-in, one-out” exchange, in which Britain can detain and return to France migrants arriving by boat whom they deem ineligible for asylum, in exchange for London accepting an equal number of migrants from France after they have received a visa.
It was signed in July and came into force in August, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government struggling to quell public discontent over immigration levels.
But a group of 17 NGOs appealed against the deal in France’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, arguing it should have been ratified by parliament.
“The implementation decree... is tainted with illegality, as it fails to comply with the procedure prescribed by the constitution,” the groups said in a joint statement.
The groups include Utopia 56, which works with migrants, and medical charity Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World).
According to their lawyer, Lionel Crusoe, the French constitution requires the agreement to have been ratified by parliament before being signed into law.
Crusoe said he expected to hear from the court by the end of the week on whether they would schedule a hearing.
Under the deal, Britain has so far removed 26 people to France and taken in 18 migrants in return, the British government said last week.
British authorities had hoped the deal would curb record levels of irregular Channel crossings, which have fueled the rise of the hard-right Reform UK party.
The organizations argued that “the number of dangerous and illegal crossings of the Channel has not decreased” following the agreement.
More than 8,400 migrants have entered the UK on dinghies since the deal was implemented, according to an AFP count based on official British data.
Nearly 35,500 such migrants have landed on British shores since the beginning of the year.
At least 27 people have died trying to make the perilous Channel crossing by sea during that same period, according to an AFP tally of official figures.