THE CHANNEL — A 26-year-old Kurdish Syrian asylum seeker returned from the United Kingdom to France in November 2025 under the 'one in, one out' Channel crossings deal has had his asylum claim rejected by French authorities and faces potential return to Syria. The French rejection letter states that Syria would be safe for him and that he had not presented any relevant arguments that his personal circumstances would pose a serious and individual threat to his life or person should he return.

The man arrived in the UK on a small boat before being sent back to France in November 2025. His asylum interview in France lasted one hour and 12 minutes, followed by an additional interview of 49 minutes, much of which focused on asking him to prove that he lived in the village he said he lived in.

He fled Syria after the village chief told him the Kurdish militia in the area, the YPG, had his name on a list for forced conscription. "I didn't want to go to war and kill people," he said. He fled with family members, including his mother and younger siblings, using smugglers to cross the border from Syria to Turkey, where he was separated from his family and forced into a different lorry.

"I do not know what has happened to my family. I have not managed to make contact with them since the smugglers separated us," he said. He also said: "I am so stressed by everything that has happened to me that my hair has started falling out. I'm 26 and I am too young to be losing my hair. I don't know what to do now."

"If I return to the UK on a small boat, the Home Office will catch me and put me back in detention. If I go back to Syria, the YPG militia will get me. What should I do?" he said.

British prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron announced the 'one in, one out' deal in July 2025 to stop small boats crossing the Channel by returning one asylum seeker arriving on a small boat to France in exchange for bringing one asylum seeker from northern France to the UK under legal routes. Since September 2025 and as of 24 April, 561 people have been removed to France after arriving in the UK on small boats, and 551 people have been brought legally to the UK under the scheme.

"This case is an example of the real risk involved in returning people to France. Most people who make the journey across the Channel are refugees, which means that the UK accepts that they face danger in their home country. In returning people to France, the UK is putting them at real risk of being returned to the country where they face persecution, in violation of the refugee convention," immigration solicitor Sonia Lenegan said. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants launched a letter-writing campaign against the five airlines involved in one in, one out removals to France, and more than 6,500 people have sent letters asking the airlines to stop taking part in the deportations.

"Under our returns agreement with France, we have deported more than 600 illegal migrants from British soil. This contributes to the nearly 60,000 illegal migrants who have been returned since July 2025, up 31% on the 19 months prior," a Home Office spokesperson said. According to Home Office sources, Syrian asylum seekers in the UK whose claims were rejected would face return to Syria if it was safe to do so, and the government is working with Syrian authorities to facilitate this. No one would be returned to Syria if they were at risk of persecution or serious harm on return, according to Home Office sources.