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The case was the first challenge relating to the treaty, which aims to reduce small-boat crossings of the English Channel by migrants, to reach London’s High Court.
Sept. 16, 2025, 5:43 p.m. ET
The British government’s effort to reduce small-boat crossings by migrants suffered a setback on Tuesday when one of the first asylum seekers scheduled to be returned to France under a landmark treaty won a court battle to delay his deportation.
A lawyer representing the Home Office, which handles immigration, told London’s High Court that the case raised the prospect of other legal challenges by people fighting deportation under the treaty.
The asylum seeker, a 25-year-old Eritrean man, had been booked onto a flight departing Wednesday morning. A government spokesman said that, despite the ruling, the first deportations under the treaty would “take place imminently.”
Small-boat crossings have become a major political challenge for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who promised to “smash the gangs” arranging the journeys after winning last year’s general election.
More than 30,000 people have arrived by small boat so far this year, a record number, and the treaty, signed with France in July, has been central to the government’s hopes of deterring further crossings.
Under the deal, France agreed to receive an unspecified number of people who crossed the English Channel for Britain by small boat, and to send in exchange a “balanced” number of asylum seekers who applied for transfer to Britain.
Mr. Starmer hailed the agreement a reward for “months of grown-up diplomacy” and said it would “deliver real results for British people.”
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Tuesday’s case was the first challenge relating to the treaty to reach the High Court, although those in attendance were told that others were underway.
The man who brought the challenge, who was granted anonymity by the court and was referred to during the hearing as C.T.K., arrived in Britain on a small boat in August after traveling through Italy and France.
Lawyers representing him told the court that he had claimed to be a victim of forced labor in Libya, where he spent time in 2024, and had applied for support under a government program that grants victims of modern slavery temporary permission to remain in Britain.
Officials rejected the first stage of that application on Tuesday, communicating the decision 14 hours before the scheduled flight and three hours after the beginning of the court hearing.
In the High Court, Justice Clive Sheldon ruled that the British government could not deport the man until it had given him two weeks to fight that refusal.
During a hastily convened hearing Tuesday afternoon, a lawyer representing the government said it had acted lawfully, and argued the case would delay removals to France and have “consequences for the deterrent effect” of the treaty.
The lawyer, Kate Grange, said small-boat migration was a matter of “grave social and political concern,” and that the treaty with France aimed to “disincentivize dangerous crossings and eliminate demand.”
In written arguments to the High Court, the government said at least 17 people had died attempting crossings since January, including a woman and two children who were crushed in an overcrowded boat last week.
Justice Sheldon said his ruling related only to the individual bringing the claim and was temporary, ahead of another hearing to consider the wider case against his deportation.
