UK High Court blocks deportation under France-UK returns plan

A British High Court judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the deportation of a 25-year-old Eritrean asylum seeker, dealing an early setback to the government's new one in, one out returns deal with France and delaying the first planned removals from the UK. The man had been due to leave on a commercial flight from Heathrow on Wednesday under the pilot scheme, which exchanges Channel crossers in the UK for approved asylum seekers in France, but Mr Justice Clive Sheldon granted interim relief so the claimant can make further representations on a trafficking claim.

Sheldon said there was a "serious issue to be tried" over whether the Home Secretary had lawfully discharged investigatory duties in relation to the trafficking allegation, and that the case should return to the court "as soon as is reasonably practical." His ruling followed a decision from the UK's national referral mechanism, which identifies victims of slavery and human trafficking, inviting the man to supply additional evidence. The judge noted the NRM had initially found no reasonable suspicion of trafficking but had left room for reconsideration.

Lawyers for the claimant told the court he faces a real risk of...