'For us, there is no safe place'

Returnees to France fearful of their fate

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boat after being removed to France under the controversial “one in, one out” scheme on 19 September. He was sent back to Paris for the second time on 5 November.

“France, UK, France, UK, France - it’s not my choice,” he says. “I went to UK twice because I felt I had no other option. The smugglers in northern France attacked me and threatened my life before I crossed to the UK for the first time on August 6. When the Home Office returned me here the first time I believed the smugglers were still searching for me. I continue to believe that. I am frightened every time I go outside the shelter. I am not safe here.”

Afran is sitting with three others recent returnees from the UK, including the first woman removed under the scheme. Now the policy will be followed by draconian measures the government claims will deter asylum seekers from crossing the Channel in small boats. But the group’s stories - of danger, dislocation and a lack of protection even after removal - are a stark illustration of how those theories of deterrence can collide with the desperate logic of survival.

Even before the latest measures, the scheme has proved highly controversial. The right views it as ineffective, with just 113 returns to France so far and 84 asylum seekers allowed to come the other way.

On Friday alone, 217 people made the boat crossing - doubling the number removed so far in a single day. Human rights campaigners see the scheme as unduly harsh and arbitrary in terms of who can stay and who must go.

The four returnees are sitting at a cafe near a vast, traffic-clogged roundabout. The shelter is close by, a marquee-type structure with single beds crammed together and the second in a series of staging posts for those returned to France - first a hotel for a few days, then here, then temporary accommodation in different parts of the country.