Quarter of migrants who claim to be children after crossing English Channel from France are older than 18, council figures reveal
- More than 400 of the 1,668 ‘children’ who have landed at Kent in the last five years are adults – most of them are men from the Middle East and north Africa
- Kent is looking after more than 600 under-18s at a cost of £200,000 a month
- It is operating at capacity and new arrivals are sent to councils across the UK
- 4,999 migrants have made the crossing to England since the start of the year
A quarter of migrants who claimed to be children after crossing the English Channel from France were older than 18, council figures have revealed.
Of the 1,668 who told officials they were children after landing on the Kent coast in the last five years, more than 400 were later found to be adults.
A source at Kent county council told The Sunday Telegraph: ‘Following age assessment, around 25 percent are assessed as being 18 or over. They will then almost definitely appeal this through the courts and the council pays all the legal fees.’
Last week, Abdulfatah Hamdallah washed up dead on a beach at Sangatte, near Dunkirk. His friend, who is purportedly 16, managed to swim ashore and initially reported that he believed Hamdallah to be the same age as him. Hamdallah was 28.
Border Force officers aboard HMC Hunter speak to migrants aboard a dinghy in the Channel on August 10
Hamdallah was from West Kordofan state in Sudan which borders the war-ravaged regions of Darfur and the Nuba Mountains.
People traffickers in the country use Facebook to advertise their services, telling followers that ‘now is the best time to take the boat.’
A total of 4,999 migrants, most of them north African and Middle Eastern men, have made the treacherous journey across the Channel so far this year.
Kent has started transferring the new arrivals to other councils across the country because it cannot cope with the numbers, the Telegraph reported.
On August 14, the local authority said it had reached capacity for unaccompanied children seeking asylum and would not be able to accept any more.
Mr Hamdallah (pictured) couldn’t swim and drowned when their boat burst a mile from the beach at Sandgatte
Kent is looking after more than 600 under-18s who are costing tax payers £200,000 a month.
Another 950 people, aged 18 to 25, have been given temporary accommodation.
Those found to be under 18 will have the right to financial help with accommodation up until they are 25.
Those who are found to be adults will be returned to their country of origin, a roughly three year process which is fraught with legal wranglings.
Migrant men picked up by the UK Border Force arrive at Dover Port on August 20
Refugee rights organisations claim that age assessments are not scientific and make errors.
Kent Refugee Action Network told The Telegraph: ‘Age assessments are imprecise, subjective and arbitrary.
‘In fact, the problem is not people pretending to be younger than they are, it’s age assessments that often put them as older than they are, and that has devastating consequences, leading to children in foster care being moved to adult accommodation.’