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UK to continue sending potential trafficking victims to France despite court ruling

The Home Office plans to continue returning asylum seekers to France under the 'one in one out' scheme despite a High Court ruling that the policy on trafficking protections is unlawful. The judgment found the home secretary's decision to reduce protections was unlawful, but the Home Office has indicated removals will proceed.

By Tertius News AI Desk 1 outlet · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage Jul 10–14, 2026 Published Aug 15

Lead

The UK government is set to continue returning asylum seekers to France under its "one in one out" scheme, despite a High Court ruling that the policy underpinning the returns is unlawful. The Home Office has indicated it will proceed with removals without fully considering trafficking claims, according to sources.

Coverage Comparison

The Guardian reported on the High Court ruling on Friday, in which Mr Justice Sheldon found that the home secretary's decision to reduce protections for potential trafficking victims was unlawful. The ruling came after a legal challenge by five small boat asylum seekers earmarked for return to France – four from Eritrea and one from Sudan.

The Guardian also reported that the Home Office plans to ignore the ruling and continue sending asylum seekers to France. The next chartered flight to France is due to depart on Thursday, and there is at least one private flight a week used for forced removals.

Key Claims

The high court judge ruled that the home secretary's decision to amend trafficking guidance to prevent reconsideration of initial negative decisions was unlawful. The judge found the change made a "real difference" in two of the five asylum seekers' cases, but not in two others, and all five were given permission to proceed with their legal claims.

The "one in one out" deal involves one person who has travelled from France to the UK on a small boat being forcibly returned to France in exchange for another asylum seeker in France who has not attempted to cross the Channel. The home secretary argued that France is a signatory to treaties protecting trafficking victims.

Since the scheme started last August, it is likely that more than 1,000 people have been removed to France under the scheme, and many have subsequently disappeared. Hundreds more small boat arrivals are in UK detention centres awaiting forced return to France.

According to data provided in the high court case and included in the judgment, almost 80% of trafficking victims who received initial negative decisions on trafficking claims in 2025 had the negative decisions reversed after reconsideration. This suggests that many initial decisions may be incorrect.

The Home Office removed certain protections for this group because they could delay removals to France by at least 30 days. Home Office sources told the Guardian that operational activity could continue despite the ruling.

Some asylum seekers detained for Thursday's flight or for future flights told the Guardian: "The Home Office doesn't listen to us when we try to tell them we are victims of trafficking. They just send us to France whatever we tell them."

The ruling raised questions about what should happen to asylum seekers already forcibly returned to France, who may be affected by the unlawful policy. There are estimated to be several hundred people in both groups – those in detention and those already returned.

How this outlet told it

The Guardian — World as of Jul 10, 2026, 10:31 AM UTC

Framing: High court rules against home secretary's policy on trafficking victims — Critical of the home secretary's policy

Facts Included:

The home secretary's decision to reduce protections for potential trafficking victims was unlawful
A high court judge ruled against the home secretary's policy
The one in one out deal involves one person being forcibly returned to France in exchange for another asylum seeker in France
Many asylum seekers who arrive in small boats are potentially victims of trafficking
The home secretary argued that France is a signatory to treaties protecting trafficking victims

Read the source article →

The Guardian — World as of Jul 14, 2026, 1:15 PM UTC

Framing: Home Office to ignore high court ruling on trafficking victims — Critical of the Home Office's response to the ruling

Facts Included:

The Home Office plans to ignore the high court ruling and continue sending asylum seekers to France
The number of people affected by the ruling, including those already forcibly returned to France
The Home Office's response to the ruling, including their plan to appeal
Almost 80% of trafficking victims who received initial negative decisions on trafficking claims in 2025 had the negative decisions reversed after reconsideration

Read the source article →

What was claimed, and who backed it

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimThe home secretary's decision to reduce protections for potential trafficking victims was unlawful. A high court judge ruled against the home secretary's policy.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Jul 10, 2026, 10:31 AM UTC
ClaimThe one in one out deal involves one person being forcibly returned to France in exchange for another asylum seeker in France.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Jul 10, 2026, 10:31 AM UTC
ClaimMany asylum seekers who arrive in small boats are potentially victims of trafficking.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Jul 10, 2026, 10:31 AM UTC
ClaimThe home secretary argued that France is a signatory to treaties protecting trafficking victims.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Jul 10, 2026, 10:31 AM UTC
ClaimThe Home Office plans to ignore the high court ruling and continue sending asylum seekers to France.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Jul 14, 2026, 1:15 PM UTC
ClaimAlmost 80% of trafficking victims who received initial negative decisions on trafficking claims in 2025 had the negative decisions reversed after reconsideration.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Jul 14, 2026, 1:15 PM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

1 outlet · 2 articles consulted: The Guardian — World 6 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-08-15