English Channel migrants: Councils to be forced to look after child asylum seekers
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More than 25,000 migrants have reached the UK by boat this year
The UK Government will force councils across the UK to care for some of the unaccompanied asylum seeker children who have arrived by crossing the English Channel in small boats.
Unaccompanied means the children are making the journey alone, without either of their parents.
This year has seen a big increase in the number of migrants coming to the UK by boat compared to last year, with many children being looked after by councils on England's south coast at the moment.
More than 100 children are living in hotels because of a shortage of places in children's homes.
Other councils had been asked to volunteer to take some unaccompanied children to help them manage the situation but according to the government, not enough did.
Why have the migrants come?
An RNLI lifeboat brings rescued migrants to shore where they will be met by border officers
Migrants have different reasons for trying to come to the UK - some are asylum seekers, who flee war or persecution in their home country.
Others are coming to the UK illegally in hope of finding a better life.
Crossing seas can be very dangerous and many migrants have to pay large amounts of money to criminal gangs to ship them over the channel.
The number of migrants to have reached the UK by boat this year has risen to more than three times the 2020 total. The Home Office said 886 people arrived on Saturday, bringing the 2021 total to more than 25,700. The figure for last year was 8,469.
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.
In 2016, a Unicef report said that children make up almost half of all refugees.
Many come from countries like Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq where many homes have been destroyed and people made homeless due to fighting.
Migrants attempt dangerous journey to reach the UK
What will happen?
The change will mean that all UK councils will have to accept a certain number of children.
Priti Patel who is the UK's Home Secretary - the person responsible for immigration - said councils around the UK needed to "play their part" in offering a place to stay to asylum seekers.
She will send all 217 councils across the UK a letter giving them two weeks to present reasons why they should not accept them.
The people who cross the Channel come to the UK from the poorest and most vulnerable parts of the world - including Yemen, Eritrea, Chad, Egypt, Sudan and Iraq.
Enver Solomon from the Refugee Council, a charity which works with refugees and people seeking asylum in the UK, said the government's decision was "important".
He said it "should reduce the unacceptable delays in vulnerable children, who have often experienced great trauma, getting the vital care they need".
However, local government sources say they are worried about the money they will get to help look after the children.
Councillor James Jamieson from the Local Government Association, which represents councils in England, said: "These new arrangements must continue to swiftly take into account existing pressures in local areas."
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