A group of migrants crowded into a small dinghy attempting to leave France for England on Friday afternoon.

Many wore orange life vests and some were holding childrens' hands as they waded into the English Channel to get into the dinghy. Not all were able to make it on and some headed back to shore.

The departure and another that occurred later on Friday afternoon also from Gravelines, which sits between Calais and Dunkirk in northern France, comes as the U.K. returned the first migrant to France on Thursday under a new “one in, one out” exchange policy for asylum seekers who enter the country without authorization.

A man who arrived by boat in August was flown back to France, the Home Office said. More deportations are scheduled through next week.

The policy was put in place by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government as it struggles to control the flow of migrants making dangerous English Channel crossings.

Unauthorized migration has been a problem for several years but has recently caused political turmoil for Starmer as anti-immigrant protests were held this summer outside hotels housing asylum seekers.

The removal came two days after a setback for the government when a judge temporarily blocked the government from sending a 25-year-old Eritrean man seeking asylum to France. A High Court judge said the man should be given an opportunity to show he was a human trafficking victim.

Government lawyers argued the man should have sought asylum in France when he had the opportunity.

More than 30,000 people have made the crossing so far this year, compared to 37,000 for the whole of 2024. Dozens have died in recent years trying to cross one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes in overcrowded dinghies.

Starmer scrapped the previous Conservative administration’s contentious plan to send migrants who crossed the channel on a one-way trip to Rwanda.

Instead, he has pinned hopes on a deal with Paris to send some people who cross back to France, in return for accepting some asylum-seekers currently in France who have family ties to Britain.

U.K. officials have suggested the French agreement is a major breakthrough, despite the initial program involving a limited number of people.

The government is also looking to speed up the processing of asylum claims and reduce the number of migrants held in hotels.

AP video by Jean Francois Badias

Production: Jeffrey Schaeffer