The first migrants are set to be deported on passenger flights this week under the proposed one-in, one-out returns deal with France.
Under the agreement with the French Government, the first asylum seekers are expected to be escorted by contracted Home Office security staff on commercial flights run by Air France.
The first removals are expected to be more "low-key", compared to the deportations of 47 Albanian criminals and illegal migrants in February. Migrants who are being deported will join tourists and business travellers on an Air France flight, barring any last-minute legal challenges.
However, sources in the Home Office told GB News that deportation flights will leave this week but did not confirm reports that first flight will leave today.
A message sent by the Home Office seen by the Sunday Times told proposed deportees their Air France flight will depart from London Heathrow Terminal 4.
The formal removal direction notice gives a migrant five days’ notice of the Home Office’s intention to deport them, allowing them to seek final legal advice before any removal can take place.
Secure vans will then transport them from the Harmondsworth immigration removal centre next to Heathrow airport, where they have been detained since arriving on small boats last month.
Legal observers told The Telegraph there might be as few as 10 migrants per flight, with at least one security escort per migrant.
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The returns deal with France is expected to start this week
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The number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the English Channel has topped 30,000 for the year so far.
It is the earliest point in a calendar year at which the 30,000 mark has been passed since data on the crossings was first reported in 2018.
The "one in, one out" pilot scheme has been agreed for the UK to send back to France migrants who have crossed the Channel, in exchange for those who apply and are approved to come to the UK.
A Home Office spokesman said: "Under the new UK-France treaty, people crossing in small boats can now be detained and removed to France. We expect the first returns to take place imminently.
"Protecting the UK border is our top priority. We will do whatever it takes to restore order to secure our borders."
The Home Office has said the first returns will expect 'imminently'
| GETTYFormer head of immigration enforcement David Wood told The Telegraph: "The main challenge is if the migrants become disruptive on the flight, and when they are held in detention other migrants spread that knowledge.
"The Home Office will want the first flights to go really smoothly so they’ll pick the migrants who are most compliant, the ones least likely to cause trouble."
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who has been tasked with ramping up the UK’s response to small boat crossings, said this week she expected the returns to begin "imminently."
Labour Together, a think tank with close links to the Home Secretary, has proposed multimillion-pound "thank you" payments for areas which once contained asylum seekers.
Under the proposals, the think tank suggested that communities with asylum hotels should be eligible for a one-off grant to invest in infrastructure, such as a children’s play park, or to refurbish sports venues or social clubs.
The money could be used to bring local facilities, including pubs and shops, into public ownership, or indeed former asylum hotels.
A spokesman for the group said: "Many of these hotels used to be places where people got married or socialised with friends.
"Now they are often the most visible indication of state intervention in their neighbourhood, and emblematic of a system that’s not working for them."