Half of all asylum seekers who claimed to be children in Britain since 2020 have turned out to be adults, with dozens even being above the age of thirty.
The practice of migrants claiming to be children, which increases their chances of the UK government granting them asylum in Britain, has increased to such a level that 45 per cent of the 8,766 migrants who claimed to be “kids” were reality adults, equating to 3,944 cases.
According to information from the Migration Watch UK reported by The Sun, there were 1,582 cases of migrants fraudulently claiming to be children in 2022, compared to 227 a decade prior. The think tank went on to reveal that 887 asylum seekers, at least 52 of whom were older than 30, falsely told border officials that they were children between January and September of last year.
The most prevalent country of origin for the fraudster migrants was Afghanistan with 1,361 cases, followed by Iran with 612, and Sudan with 550.
Migration Watch chairman Alp Mehmet told the paper: “That so many still go for this ruse, even when they obviously look much older, tells me it’s a deception that often works.”
The issue of asylum seekers posing as children has been longstanding in Britain, with minors being afforded increased welfare and protections compared to adult migrants and increased chances of being granted the right to remain in the country.
A particularly egregious example came in 2020 after a supposed child migrant who “looked 40” was placed alongside teenage schoolchildren in Coventry, England. “He’s got a receding hairline for God’s sake,” one parent exclaimed at the time.
Another notable instance occurred in 2016, when a 38-year-old man was brought over to Britain from a migrant camp Calais as part of a scheme to receive child migrants from France. While mass migration activists initially tried to claim that he was not brought to the country because of his claim to be a minor, but rather that he was merely serving as a language interpreter, this turned out to be false.
In response to the latest reporting on the issue, a Home Office spokesman said: “We are strengthening the age assessment process.”
Meanwhile, a separate report from the left-wing Labour Party has found that the criminal gangs behind the people trafficking operations which transport the migrants across the English Channel from France have taken in nearly half a billion pounds since 2018, the Express reports.
The analysis found that since 2018, 114,300 illegal migrants have crossed the English Channel, paying people smugglers on average £4,000 for every journey, totalling an estimated £457,288,000 in profits for the gangs.
The criminal gangs, which operate in both France and Britain and often ensnarl migrants into effective modern slavery in order to pay off the debts accrued for their passage, likely earned even more than the Labour estimate, given that it did not include the money handed over by migrants who were blocked from reaching Britain by French authorities.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The Conservatives have allowed an entire multi-million pound dangerous criminal industry to grow up along our border over the last five years… Criminals are making big money from putting tens of thousands of lives at risk, and making a mockery of UK border security.”
Although the Labour Party has vowed to crack down on the people smuggling networks, it has also opposed measures to deter further illegal migration, including the Conservative government’s plan to send illegal boat migrants to Rwanda rather than putting them up in hotels and asylum centres in Britain while their claims are processed.
Migration Watch UK’s Alp Mehmet said: “Labour are deluding themselves if they think they will stop the boats by abandoning the Rwanda scheme, going after the criminals and keeping the asylum queue down. This approach is more likely to increase the illegal crossings.”
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