Forty per cent of Channel boat migrants who had been requested lied about their age & usually declare to be youngsters

FORTY per cent of Channel boat migrants who’ve claimed to be youngsters had been really discovered to be adults when challenged.

The shock statistic reveals the extent some will go to in a bid to cheat the asylum system.

Amongst them had been 1,305 from Afghanistan caught mendacity about their age to get particular safety right here.

Many are thought to have destroyed their id paperwork earlier than arriving in Britain.

Youngster refugees can’t be deported and have to be given the identical degree of healthcare, training and sustenance as British youngsters in care.

Dwelling Workplace figures obtained by The Solar on Sunday present that from mid-2022 to June 2024, 11,449 age disputes had been raised by UK Border Pressure employees.

Some 8,791 had been resolved with 3,570 — 40 per cent — having lied about being underneath 18.

Final yr, 56 per cent of disputes concerned migrants claiming to be youngsters being recognized as adults.

Over the two-year interval, 1,305 caught mendacity had been from Afghanistan, whereas Sudan was second with 571.

And 355 Iranians, 325 Eritreans and 318 Vietnamese asylum seekers had been caught out pretending to be youngsters.

Final week, a report by the borders inspector David Bolt discovered immigration employees present a “lack of curiosity” about the actual age of Channel migrants.

In a single case, an Iranian with gray hairs and stubble was accepted as 17.

AI age evaluation tech is to be rolled out subsequent yr.

Former Tory minister Sir Alec Shelbrooke blasted: “These figures present the size of sentimental contact Britain.”

A Dwelling Workplace spokeswoman stated: “Strong age assessments for unlawful migrants are very important to sustaining border safety.

“We are going to begin to modernise that course of within the coming months by means of the testing of quick and efficient AI Age Estimation expertise at key Border Pressure areas, with a view to totally combine Facial Age Estimation into the present age evaluation system over the course of 2026.”

• A male migrant suffered a deadly cardiac arrest on a ship which launched from Equihen-Plage in northern France yesterday morning.

PA

Forty per cent of Channel boat migrants who’ve claimed to be youngsters had been really discovered to be adults when challenged[/caption]