A controversial Home Office policy designed to return Channel migrants to France has been condemned for systematically failing to protect survivors of torture and trafficking held in UK detention.
Alarming Evidence of Harm Ignored
The damning assessment comes from the charity Medical Justice, which sends independent doctors and nurses into immigration removal centres. Their new report is the first to examine the welfare of detainees held under the government's 'one in, one out' scheme, which began in August 2025.
The charity surveyed 33 people detained while awaiting removal to France. Shockingly, 18 of them showed clinical evidence of having been tortured or trafficked. Despite this, the report states that clinical safeguards in detention have failed, rendering the protection system a 'futile exercise' with a 'near total disregard for identified vulnerabilities'.
More than 200 people who crossed the Channel in small boats since the scheme's inception have been forcibly returned to France, with a similar number brought to the UK legally from France under the same arrangement.
'I Thought I Was Going to Die'
Detainees described profound despair, with many stating that detention in the UK – not past trauma – was the moment they lost hope. Clinicians were told of severe violence, death threats, and intimidation from traffickers, smugglers, and organised gangs. Several reported being filmed by traffickers who threatened to use the footage to find and kill them if they were sent back to France.
One man, with documented evidence of past torture, described a violent removal attempt. "I became dizzy, and my voice became weak... I said in a low voice, 'I can't breathe'... I thought to myself: 'Oh, my God'," he told a Medical Justice clinician. He was returned to detention with physical injuries and psychological harm documented by the charity.
Calls for Policy Overhaul
A spokesperson for Medical Justice said the scheme was marked by an 'especially high proportion' of vulnerable survivors at risk, 'alarmingly high levels of suicidality', and a broken safeguarding system. "We fear the government wants to remove these people come what may," they stated.
The report demands the 'one in, one out' policy be scrapped entirely and urges that asylum claims from small boat arrivals be processed in the UK, rather than pursuing automatic returns to France.
In response, a Home Office spokesperson said: "Protecting the UK border is our top priority. Our landmark one in, one out scheme means we can send those who arrive on small boats straight back to France – a safe country in which any protection claims can be, and are being, considered. The welfare of people detained is of the utmost importance."
