The Sunday Telegraph

Queuing for Britain

Details emerge of how warnings about child migrant crisis were repeatedly ignored, as more try to cross Channel

- By Ben Riley-Smith, Robert Mendick and Rory Mulholland in Calais

THE Home Office was under intense pressure last night over its handling of age checks for child migrants as it emerged that it failed to act on a series of warnings.

The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that ministers ignored offers of help from social services and were told of grave concerns over a new promise to take in extra refugees.

More than 1,000 French policemen will begin clearing the “Jungle” camp in Calais tomorrow, with migrants to be sent across the country to have their asylum claims processed.

Yesterday dozens of migrants hoping to come to Britain queued in the camp ahead of the clear-out as officials worked to process the claims.

Last week the Government faced questions over its ability to check the age of new arrivals into Britain when some appeared to be far older than 18.

With hundreds more child refugees expected to arrive in the UK this week, it has emerged that:

Councils offered to send social workers to Calais to carry out age checks in August but were ignored;

Ministers raised concerns that David Cameron’s promise in May to take more refugees was undelivera­ble;

The Chief Inspector of Borders warned that adult migrants were posing as children three years ago;

MPs on a powerful parliament­ary committee are demanding an “urgent” inquiry into the child refugee process.

A national debate over the country’s child migrant policy was triggered this week as photograph­s of new arrivals from Calais led to claims some were actually adults.

UK officials are unable to carry out fingerprin­t checks in France and often struggle to verify ages because many refugees have little documentat­ion after fleeing civil war or persecutio­n.

They are interviewe­d about their background and checks can take in “physical appearance and demeanour”, but the Home Office rejected calls this week for dental checks to be undertaken.

Seventeen EU countries use dental checks to help establish age, according to the European Asylum Support Office, though the body representi­ng British dentists said this week that it “vigorously opposed” such checks. It has emerged that in the year to September 2015, nearly two thirds of child asylum-seekers whose age was disputed were found to be adults. Critics say they are not questionin­g whether Britain should take in child refugees or has a moral duty to help, but are concerned the most vulnerable are not benefiting.

This newspaper has uncovered fresh evidence that calls were ignored for more to be done to ensure those coming here were children. A delegation from the Local Government Associatio­n [LGA] met with Home Office ministers and officials in August, requesting they send experts in age identifica­tion to France.

David Simmonds, chairman of the LGA’s asylum, refugee and migration task group, said councils employed social workers expert in determinin­g the ages of refugees. He told The Sunday Telegraph: “We made the offer in

BEREKET stands at the fence of the compound where the luckier residents of the Calais “Jungle” live in containers. Behind him, in one of those containers, his fate is being decided.

The Eritrean boy, who says he is 12 and is clearly a child, made the perilous journey to France on his own, crossing the deserts of Sudan and Libya, taking a rickety boat over the Mediterran­ean to Italy, and then northwards again, with his goal – England – coming ever closer. His chances of making it across the final 20 miles of sea that separate France from the UK depend on the adults – French charity workers and British Home Office officials – in the white container behind him. “They took my number,” Bereket told The

Sunday Telegraph, displaying a cheap mobile phone, “and said they would call me.”

But because he admitted to immigratio­n officials he has no family connection­s in the UK, it is far from certain he will be able to leave on one of the buses that for the past week have ferried youngsters from the squalid migrant camp to a new life in Britain.

The “Jungle,” currently home to about 6,000 people fleeing Africa and the Middle East, is due to be demolished, starting tomorrow.

At one of the entrances to the container compound, a crowd of about 100 people – all men – wait at a gate, watched over by a few CRS riot police.

They, too, are hoping to get on the unaccompan­ied minors’ bus to the UK and are queuing to be interviewe­d. Abdi, an Ethiopian, said he was 17 and looked roughly that age. But at least half of the rest looked well over 18.

The container they want to get to is one of dozens in the heart of the “Jungle”. Most of the rest are living quarters for about 1,500 migrants who moved there this spring after the southern half of the camp was bulldozed.

The doors of the white container occasional­ly open and a UK official emerges with a clipboard, to be quickly surrounded by refugees. “I’m sorry I can’t speak to you,” was the answer from a British woman when the Telegraph posed a question through the fence.

It is no secret that she is one of several Home Office officials, who work in tandem with a charity mandated by the French government, France Terre d’Asile, to interview migrants who say they are minors and who claim to have family in the UK. “Jungle” residents – most of whom had been hoping to make it to England – are due to be bussed to newly created refugee centres across France.

Yesterday, its normally bustling lanes, crammed with makeshift shops, shacks and tents, were half deserted.

Drawings and texts sent by British schoolchil­dren adorned the façades of stores abandoned after their owners were given eviction orders.

“Plese don’t think our contry [sic] is mean just because of mean David Camron… I would welcome you into our contry if I could,” said one, signed by Phaedra, four.

Bashir, 27, a lorry driver from Afghanista­n said he would get on one of the buses that are due to leave every 15 minutes on Monday for destinatio­ns across France. “But I won’t stay wherever they send me,” he said. “I want to go to Britain, to live with my friend in Birmingham.”

At the Ethiopian Orthodox church, one of the few structures remaining in the half of the camp that was bulldozed, Solomon, 35, said he would be happy to stay wherever he is sent. “It can only be better than here,” the Ethiopian said.

Solomon, like most of the migrants in Calais, came in the hope of sneaking on to a lorry and making it to England. But those who do not have thousands of pounds to pay smugglers found themselves stuck in the camp as security grew ever tighter.

Last night a crowd of about a hundred migrants moved up to the fence blocking access to the road leading to the ferry port. Police occasional­ly lobbed a tear gas grenade over the fence, dispersing the migrants.

But minutes later they were back again, repeating the cat and mouse game with security forces. Nazir’s phone has broken down and he has to wait until he can get his uncle’s number by any other means

When authoritie­s agreed on a plan to put what they hope will be an end to an issue that has for years poisoned relations between Britain and France, they carried out a survey to determine how many unaccompan­ied minors were in the camp. They found about 1,300, although as most have no identity papers, that was an approximat­e figure.

Britain has agreed to let some minors in but has prioritise­d entry for those with family ties in the UK. By Sunday around 200 had arrived in the UK from Calais to join relatives. France wants Britain to go further and honour a commitment to helping vulnerable child migrants in Europe, and accept minors who do not have family links with the UK. That is the case for Bereket, who hangs about outside the white container hoping he will get the call to say he will be allowed to cross the Channel legally.

Nazir Mohamedi, from Afghanista­n, who says he is 16, is in a stronger position. He has an uncle in London and is keen to join him. He has been interviewe­d inside the white container, where the French charity workers and UK Home Office officials questioned him about his age, where he is from, how many brothers and sisters he has, and on lots of other personal details.

Usually, they then note the number of the person in the UK who is said to be related and phone them to crosscheck all the informatio­n before giving the green light. But Nazir’s phone had broken down and he has to wait until he can get his uncle’s number by any other means.

He has been in Calais for only a day, having arrived the previous night from Paris – where he slept in a tent under an elevated Metro line – before hearing about the scheme to take minors to the UK. “I’m the oldest in my family,” he said. “When I get to Britain, I want the rest to come.”

‘I won’t stay wherever they send me. I want to go to Britain, to live with my friend in Birmingham’

 ??  ?? Hopeful migrants queuing yesterday outside the enclosure where British officials process the claims of unaccompan­ied minors seeking refugee status and residency in the UK
Hopeful migrants queuing yesterday outside the enclosure where British officials process the claims of unaccompan­ied minors seeking refugee status and residency in the UK
 ??  ?? The fate of young migrants is sealed by French and British officials. Right, French riot police officers fire tear gas canisters during clashes with migrants yesterday
The fate of young migrants is sealed by French and British officials. Right, French riot police officers fire tear gas canisters during clashes with migrants yesterday
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