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Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has asserted that the UK’s returns agreement with France remains on track, despite a judicial injunction blocked the deportation of an asylum-seeking man.

The minister stated that the last-minute court order stopping the 25-year-old from being flown to Paris will not derail the returns plan in the long term.

On Tuesday, a court official granted a temporary injunction after the unnamed man argued he was a victim of trafficking and would face homelessness if returned to France.

Kendall stated on Times Radio that she would not discuss operational details, but reiterated: “It involves one person. It is not going to undermine the fundamental basis of this agreement.”

Judicial and Operational Challenges

A solicitor representing migrants criticized the administration’s “arbitrary and chaotic approach” to choosing individuals for removal, including cases where minors were mistakenly identified.

The lawyer from her firm commented: “There has been a random and unstructured approach in choosing people coming via small boats.”

She noted that minors were being caught up in the system even though they should be explicitly removed from such procedures.

Accounts suggested that two underage boys were wrongly chosen for the scheme previously.

Background of the Agreement

UK authorities last month detained dozens Channel asylum seekers under the scheme, pledging to return them to France “within weeks.”

Originally, deportations were planned on regular air services from Heathrow to Paris during this week, but none have been sent back as of yet.

Officials now confront the possibility of additional court appeals and delays. Sources confirmed that at least five more people were earmarked for return this week.

Observers have drawn parallels the situation to the previous government’s Rwanda deportation plan, which faced repeated legal obstacles. But, unlike that policy, the current appeals involve specific persons rather than the whole program.

Terms of the Agreement

As part of the agreement, signed in July by Starmer and France’s president, the UK agreed to detain small boat claimants and return to France. In exchange, France would accept a comparable quantity of asylum seekers with family ties in the UK.

The prime minister stated at the time: “There is no simple solution, but with a united effort, new tactics and a greater degree of determination, we can finally turn the tables.”

Recently, Mr Justice Sheldon who issued the short-term injunction stated that more time was needed to look into the man’s assertion that he was a possible trafficking survivor.

The court was informed that the man and his mother had gone to Ethiopia when he was a young child, and that he was later trafficked from there to Libya in 2023.

The applicant said he had afterward traveled via Italy to France, and entered the UK by small boat on 12 August after his mother gave £1,000 to smugglers.

Next Steps

France has been planning to send asylum seekers to the UK over the weekend as part of the two-way deal.

An official representative said: “Initial returnees are still scheduled to arrive in France from the UK this week, and the first to leave from France will begin on Saturday.”