Labour has ‘lost control of our borders' & ‘one in, one out' migrant deal ‘won't make any difference'
The trial, which starts today, sees up to 50 Channel migrants a week sent back to France while the UK will take in the same number via a legal route.
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Detentions are expected to begin within days and removals could start in weeks.
But the plan has already been slammed as "weak" and a "gimmick which won't work".
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: "The government's plan being signed today to return just 50 illegal channel immigrants a week, and probably less, will make no difference whatsoever.
"This amounts to only 6 per cent of illegal arrivals. Allowing 94 per cent to stay in the UK will be no deterrent at all.
"This is a gimmick which won't work."
Mr Philp added: "Only removing all illegal immigrants upon arrival will provide the necessary deterrent to stop the crossings.
"This is the Conservative plan, but Labour is too weak to implement it and as a result they have lost control of our borders."
Under a wider attempted crackdown at illegal migration, charity visa routes are also being tightened as a Nigerian YouTuber boasted about using them to get into the UK.
And ministers plan to stop universities taking foreign students if they do not prevent courses being used to claim asylum.
The Home Secretary this morning refused to put a number on the overall amount of illegal arrivals who will be sent packing to France under the scheme.
She said: "We are not putting an overall figure on this programme.
"Of course, it will start will lower numbers and then build, but we want to be able to expand it. We want to be able to increase the number of people returned through this programme."
She added: "We will provide regular updates, people will be able to see how many people are being detained, how many people are being returned, and it is right that we should be transparent around that.
"But we're not setting the numbers in advance, firstly because there is no fixed number in terms of the overall number of people to come through this system, and secondly because we're not going to provide (gangs) with that operational information."
The first small boat migrants set to be booted back to France under the new 'one in, one out' returns deal will be rounded up by the end of the week, the Home Office confirmed.
The scheme, which has now been signed off by the European Commission, kicks in today and marks the first major returns agreement with an EU state since Brexit.
Border Force officers are on standby to start picking out who'll be sent packing, with dozens of beds already cleared at immigration removal centres across the UK.
Under the rules, any adult arriving illegally by small boat could face deportation.
For every one sent back, Britain will take in a "genuine asylum seeker" from France — but only if they've got family ties here or come from a country with a high level of successful asylum claims, such as Afghanistan, Iran or Eritrea.
The pilot will run for nearly a year.
While the Home Office hasn't confirmed exact numbers, insiders say around 50 migrants a week will be deported.
The figure equates to just one in 17 arrivals, based on current crossing levels.
Top officials say the people smugglers' business model will only collapse if up to 85 per cent of crossings are stopped.
The deal is part of Sir Keir Starmer's wider vow to 'smash the gangs'.
But channel crossings have hit record highs, with a whopping 25,436 people making the journey this year alone, up nearly 50 per cent on 2024.
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