Nearly 100 children detained as adults under UK-France migration deal
Figures emerge in critical letter to Home Office from organisation appointed to scrutinise detention facilities Nearly 100 children have been wrongly identified and detained as adults under Shabana Mahmood’s “one in, one out” deal with France , the Guardian can disclose. Home Office staff said that of 304 age-disputed cases arising from the scheme over nine months, 94 – or 31% – were ultimately found to be minors. Children are supposed to be excluded from the scheme, while government policy limits immigration detention of unaccompanied children to 24 hours. The figures have emerged in a letter sent to the Home Office minister Anna Turley from Jane Leech, the interim chair of independent monitoring boards (IMBs), which scrutinise prisons and immigration detention facilities. The “one in, one out” initiative, launched last August, allows the UK to send somepeople who arrive by small boat back to France while agreeing to take the same number of people from France if they are judged to have a legitimate claim.
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In the highly critical letter, Leech also said some people detained under the scheme: had been awaiting deportation for more than six months, despite being supposed be held for up to 28 days only “in exceptional cases”. were being readied for removal to France despite having TB or requiring hospital treatment. faced removal after being separated from family members with whom they had travelled, which she said had a “particularly damaging impact”.
