Almost 65 percent of “child” refugees who get screened by British authorities turn out to be adults, Home Office figures reveal.
Out of the 574 refugees checked by authorities over a year, which ended in September 2015, 371 were exposed to be adults. Authorities are instructed to give refugees the benefit of the doubt, which many migrants take advantage of to better their chances of a future in Britain.
An immigration officer has to make an assessment of a person’s age if a refugee shows up to the country without a valid passport or birth certificate. Home Office documents declare that unless their appearance “very strongly suggests” they are older than 18 years of age, the applicants “should be afforded the benefit of the doubt and treated as children.”
The only way to get an estimate of the actual age is by performing x-rays or dental investigations. David Davies, a Conservative member of parliament, calls for such tests to be implemented immediately.
“Currently Government advice is that they need to give these people the benefit of the doubt and that needs to change,” Davies said Tuesday. “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.”
The British Dental Association released a statement saying age tests on refugees would be “inappropriate and unethical.”
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