Young migrant children held in shocking conditions in UK, MPs find

A boat with about 17 people on board spotted off the coast of Dover

Members of the home affairs committee (a group of MPs from different political parties) have expressed their shock and serious concern after visiting a holding room for migrants in Kent this week.

They saw women with babies and very young children held in a cramped room covered with thin mattresses at a unit in Dover.

56 migrants were being held in these conditions which the MPs said was "wholly inappropriate" and a clear Covid risk, with some migrants held beyond legal limits.

The committee has also raised concerns about unaccompanied migrant children being housed in inappropriate accommodation.

Unaccompanied means the children are without either of their parents.

The Home Office (the government department responsible for overseeing immigration) said it takes the welfare of migrants seriously.

But it added that services were under pressure from "unacceptable numbers of people" crossing the Channel.

What is a migrant?

Migrants have different reasons for trying to come to the UK - some are asylum seekers, who have fled war or persecution in their home country. Others are coming to the UK illegally in hope of finding more opportunities.

Many come from countries like Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq where many homes have been destroyed and people made homeless due to fighting.

Some make the dangerous journey in small boats across the English Channel from France.

This route is often used by migrants who have made it to mainland Europe but want to travel on to the UK and reach the port of Dover in Kent, South East England.

Migrants are often held in government holding rooms when they first arrive. They then have to apply for asylum to be given the right to stay here.

What is happening to migrant children arriving in the UK on their own?

Although some children are able to travel with their families, some had to leave their parents behind in the countries where they're from, or others may have got separated from them on the long journey.

The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef) says 2,302 unaccompanied and separated children arrived in Europe between January and June 2020.

The home affairs committee said it had learned that, since Kent County Council stopped accepting unaccompanied migrant children last month, five had been housed in office accommodation for more than 10 days while waiting for a care placement.

The BBC also understands that a 14-year-old is among 26 migrants under the age of 16 now being accommodated in a requisitioned hotel in Hythe.

Dozens of children's charities have written to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to say the accommodation is completely inappropriate and its use may be unlawful.

Shocking conditions in holding room

Committee chairwoman and Labour MP Yvette Cooper wrote in a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel that the holding room facility where migrants first arrive was "clearly unfit" for purpose.

She wrote: "Most people were sitting or lying on a thin mattress and those covered almost the entirety of the floor including the aisles between seats.

"Sharing these cramped conditions were many women with babies and very young children alongside significant numbers of teenage and young adult men."

Despite the use of lateral flow tests for adult migrants upon arrival, the MPs were concerned stuffy conditions with little social distancing could spark a Covid-19 outbreak.

Ms Cooper also noted that, by law, no person should be detained by Border Force for more than 24 hours and yet some migrants at the facility had been held for twice that amount of time.

What did the government say?

Border Force officials have been picking up migrants in the Channel

Responding to all of the committee's concerns, a Home Office spokesperson said: "Unacceptable numbers of people are making life-threatening journeys crossing the Channel at the hands of criminal trafficking gangs.

"We take the welfare of migrants extremely seriously and despite these pressures we have improved our facilities, arranged additional staffing and are working to process people as quickly and safely as possible.

"The government continues to take steps to tackle the unacceptable problem of illegal migration through the Nationality and Borders Bill which will protect lives and break this cycle of illegal crossings, and we are continuing to return those with no legal right to remain in the UK."