Ministers warned about adult asylum seekers posing as children to get into Britain THREE years ago
An Ex-Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration John Vine said many men coming in were 'in their mid-20s or older'
MINISTERS were warned adult asylum seekers were posing as children to get into Britain in a damning official report THREE years ago.
Ex-Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration John Vine said Border Force staff working on the frontline at Dover had found “many” were men “in their mid-20s, or older”.
And they said adult migrants often travelled with young children in a bid to fool immigration officials.
The findings, buried deep in a 2013 report, emerged as fears continue to grow about the flaws in the UK’s basic checks on child refugees.
By Friday 53 child refugees had arrived from countries like Afghanistan, Sudan and Syria.
But critics say many looked far older than 18 - and called for tougher checks to be brought in.
Yesterday The Sun revealed how one of the new arrivals had already failed age checks by officials and was found to be over 18.
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Fingerprint matches showed he was an adult, sources confirmed.
And Mr Vine’s report, into asylum applications by unaccompanied children, revealed: “Staff at Dover told us that asylum seekers they detected concealed in vehicles were often in mixed-age groups.
“They believed that the fact that children’s asylum claims were prioritised, and that they were often granted limited leave if their applications failed, created an incentive for adults to claim to be under 18.
“In their view, many of those claiming to be minors were men whom any observer would adjudge to be in their mid-20s, or older.
“This meant that disentangling and safeguarding the under 18s required them to dispute some claimed ages.
“Our file sampling confirmed that many clandestine groups were of mixed ages and so separating out any adults was a necessary first step.”
