Two-thirds of child refugees screened by Home Office found to be adults

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016...e-adults-figu/

Two-thirds of child refugees screened by officials found to be adults, Home Office figures show

Home Office claims Calais 'child' migrants have been aged by conflict https://t.co/uabUH7tE4m

— Mail+ (@DailyMailUK) October 18, 2016

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Originally Posted by Telegraph

Nearly two-thirds of "child" refugees who officials questioned about their real age were found to be adults, Home Office documents show.

Figures show that in the year to September 2015, 65 per cent of the child refugees who had their age disputed were found to be over 18.

It comes after Conservative MPs raised questions about the ages of 14 refugees who were brought to the UK this week from the “Jungle” migrant camp in Calais.

The Home Office has no way of independently verifying the age of child refugees being brought to the UK.

Home Office documents show that if a refugee does not have a birth certificate, a Home Office screening officer can certify them as a child based on their “physical appearance” or “demeanour”.

David Davies, the Conservative MP for Monmouth, has called for rigorous independent checks – such as dental investigations or X-rays – to establish the age of refugees coming to the UK.

In the year ending September 2015, 590 asylum applicants had their age disputed and of those, 574 recorded as having an age assessment.

Of the 574 refugees checked, 371 were found to be adults.

Since 2006 there have been 11,121 age disputes. Of those, 4,828 were found to have been adults.

Home Office documents say that refugees “should be treated as an adult if their physical appearance/demeanour very strongly suggests that they are significantly over 18 years of age”.

However, they make clear that “all other applicants should be afforded the benefit of the doubt and treated as children”.

Mr Davies said: “It’s pretty obvious that migrants who are willing to risk jumping on moving lorries are not going to shy away from lying about their age.

“We have to verify the ages independently with a test. There are two tests - one that involves bone X-rays and one that involves a dental check.

“Currently Government advice is that they need to give these people the benefit of the doubt and that needs to change.

“When I went to Calais there were caravans with notices on how to get coaching on what to say if you need to get into Britain. So I am very concerned about this.

“I’m all for helping innocent children but it is completely ridiculous if we are just going to allow people in based on what they tell us.”

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No shit!

Although we're taking small numbers compared with others, every number taken in over 0 is a number too much if you ask me. Why are people in FRANCE being granted asylum here in Britain? The mind boggles at the stupidity of it all. An interesting question is also this: why are all the people being admitted mainly young men? I see virtually no elderly or females. I think I have an idea why... however insidious it may be.

My friends always said my ideal job would be in the border agency. Denied. Denied. Denied. Denied.

Thoughts?

It's definitely an oddity that people who've already arrived in a "safe" country for refuge keep moving on illegally, always been a problem obv and I don't really know what the thinking is when someone gets out of a war-torn hellhole and then instead of living happily wherever they've escaped to decides to risk everything all over again. But yeah age is an issue in eeeeeeeeverything and the goalposts get moved all the time - we generally accept 18+ as adult in this country but then if the top brass are talking about who counts as an overseas militant that needed to be killed by drones then anyone over 12 gets the honour of being an adult, if you're seeking shelter from abuse or homelessness then it's often over 14, when it's a decision about where to put your dong it's 16, and for a lot of state-funded support and employment figures it's 25. It all changes depending on who's talking and what their agenda is.

That point made, it's important to note that these figures are people who lied and have been caught: they are not just being let in willy-nilly, we're talking about people putting in appeals and having them rejected because someone's done proper checks. I'd have thought this is a positive, not a negative

"denied, denied, denied, denied". Your friend is as big a despicable human as you are.

Sorry, but we are the ones that caused this crisis, we are the ones the destroyed so many millions of peoples home, we are the ones who should take some responsibility.

I don't doubt that there are a large number of people who try to cheat the system; but your figures show that of the 574 people, 203 were (despite extra checks) children. Your figures show that of the 11,000 age disputes since 2006, more than 6000 were still found to be children.

I don't think we should let absolutely everyone in. I do think we need to take some, help them rebuild their lives that we destroyed.

And you know the best bit of all this? You and your cronies voting to leave the EU won't change anything in this regard at all.

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Oh, and as an added extra, one of my immediate relatives has refugee children in her school. 3 girls, 2 boys. But yes, you are right, they are all men :rolleyes: btw, in 2015, 57% of all asylum applications in the EU were adult men. That's like saying 'almost all people in the UK voted to leave the EU' - it just isn't true.

I should add, I don't object to more stringent tests, and kind of feel dentists should be quiet regarding such checks. Also, if someone is found to actually be an adult whilst claiming to be a child, then they should be banned entry permanently.