Police to get power to seize illegal migrants’ phones to probe real age of ‘children’

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ILLEGAL migrants could have their phones confiscated on arrival under the Government’s new “stop the boats” laws.

Officials will gain the right to seize mobiles and search for information to confirm identities of those who cross the Channel.

Writing in the Sunday Express, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said: “Often we see arrivals throw their documents in the sea so this will help us to better establish whether they are who they really say they are, and will provide us with invaluable intelligence to help us catch and prosecute more peoplesmuggling gangs.”

Immigration officials are currently barred from seizing phones after the High Court last year ruled the practice was unlawful.

Judges backed three asylum seekers who brought a case against the Home Office after 2,000 phones were seized between April and November 2020.

Other measures in the Illegal Migration Bill, which returns to the Commons on Wednesday, are aimed at stopping adult migrants pretending to be children in order to avoid deportation.

The legislation makes it harder for people to appeal against a decision to carry out tests to confirm their age, and ensures those who refuse to comply are automatically treated as adults.

It follows the case of adult asylum seeker Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, who murdered a man in Bournemouth after pretending to be a 14-year-old fleeing Taliban terror in Afghanistan. He was placed with a foster family and attended a local secondary school, but had in fact come to the UK aged at least 18 after killing two people in Serbia.

Ministers are also promising more consultation with local authorities before asylum seekers are moved into areas, following opposition to the use of hotels across the country.