And this means the Home Office must ramp up the threat of removal, Ms Mahmood said.

But she sensationally revealed Keir Starmer’s one-in-one-out deal with Emmanuel Macron is not deterring migrants from crossing the Channel.

Ms Mahmood said: “These people know what we’re up to, with a high degree of knowledge, cohorts we deal with on the organised crime side of things and also the individuals getting on boats.

“It’s quite common for people when they arrive here in the UK to ask which hotel they are going to be in.

“There is an understanding of the system that is quite well developed.

“I imagine these individuals will know it is a pilot that will start small and that it is trying to prove concept. So, has it yet changed their personal calculus? Probably not.

“They can see a change coming. They may well be banking on it not working or not being able to be scaled up.

“We would obviously want to see much larger numbers.”

Just 305 Channel migrants have been deported to France, while 367 have arrived.

Some 41,472 migrants crossed the Channel last year, up from 36,566 in 2024.

Ms Mahmood, in a surprise admission, also conceded the Channel crisis would be over if the UK could return “every” migrant to France.

Asked what impact a 100% return rate would have, the Home Secretary said: “That would kill the trade”.

Liberal Democrat MP Paul Kohler then asked what the “obstacles were”.

Ms Mahmood responded: “It’s much bigger numbers in capacity, so the capacity on the French side to absorb those people coming back into an estate, which they would need to build and then on our side, the detention estate that we’d have to build.”

Some 36,273 migrants are staying in taxpayer-funded hotel rooms, while 66,232 are living in communities across Britain.

And the Express has previously revealed how the number living in ‘dispersal accommodation’ could hit 100,000, under the Home Office’s controversial contracts with Serco, Mears and Clearspring Ready Homes.

More than 65,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister.

A Home Office crackdown on adverts telling migrants how to circumvent immigration checks came into force earlier this week.

Ms Mahmood told the Home Affairs Select Committee: “Those numbers are obviously not where I want to be either.

“This is an issue of deep concern in my own constituency and my city as well, so I fully hear what you and your constituents are saying, and it’s exactly where I am as well.

“These are unacceptable and the numbers need to come down. What I would say is this is a fiendishly difficult problem to resolve.”

The MP for Birmingham Ladywood said there is no “silver bullet” and the problem requires “long-term, careful, painful work” to resolve “every bit”.

Asked whether she could confidently say numbers would go down by this time next year, she said: “I would love to be in that position. I can’t guarantee I’m going to be in that position.

“That’s because the measures will take some time to come into effect. We will legislate at the earliest opportunity to change the appeal system, to further restrict the way that Article 8 of the Human Rights Act is interpreted.

“There is a whole range of legislative changes that we have announced, which we are working at pace to draft and get right before we pass them in a Bill – that all necessarily does take some time.”

And Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to “act now” and close The Bell Hotel in Epping.

The High Court rejected Epping Forest District Council’s argument that housing up to 138 asylum seekers in the three-star venue breached planning laws.

A council chief said the decision means “the Home Secretary can now ignore planning law, the concerns of local councils and their residents”, adding that they were “outgunned by bigger and more powerful interests”.

And Judge Mr Justice Gould seemingly dismissed the link between small boat arrivals and an increase in crime.

He claimed Hadush Kebatu’s sex attacks on a schoolgirl and a woman – which sparked nationwide protests – and other offences committed by asylum seekers from “time to time” whilst living in asylum accommodation does not provide a “reliable basis” to assume public safety is being put at risk.

Mr Justice Gould also said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s legal duty to house asylum seekers outweighs community concerns.

Dr Neil Hudson, the MP for Epping Forest, said: “For months, our communities in Epping have been deeply distressed by the Bell Hotel reopening as an asylum hotel.

“My thoughts remain with the victims of the sexual assaults, including the 14-year-old Epping schoolgirls, that trauma compounded by the offender’s mistaken release from prison.

“Weekly protests continue, some of which have become violent, with injuries to ten brave police officers.

“I am very grateful to the asylum minister for meeting with me recently about this untenable situation.

“But will the Prime Minister please listen?

“Act now. Close the Bell Hotel once and for all and help restore our town of Epping.”

But Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “As he knows, we are committed to ending the use of all hotels.

“There are now just under 200, compared to the 400 under the previous Government.

“Where military sites are used, the safety and security of local communities is our priority”.