“Child protection scandal” – UK: 200 child asylum seekers disappeared

According to organizations, the government should stop placing unaccompanied minors in hotels and instead place them with specialists. Secretary of State Robert Jenrick recently said the Home Office has housed more than 4,600 unaccompanied minors in hotels since July 2021. “There were 440 missing and 200 children are still missing, 13 of them under the age of 16.” The vast majority of missing persons came from Albania.

Hotels are really just a short-term stopgap solution
In their letter, the organizations accused the government of placing young refugees in hotels as a short-term emergency solution. The head of the organization Refugee Council, Enver Solomon, emphasized that many minors are severely traumatized. “The government has a clear legal duty to protect them,” he said. She failed to do this. As a result, “the equivalent of multiple classrooms seems to have disappeared into the clutches of those who will exploit and abuse it”.

The number of migrants entering the Channel illegally has recently increased significantly. This is a thorn in the side of the Conservative government. Restricting immigration and maintaining control over one’s own borders was one of the core promises of Brexit. Critics point out that there are hardly any legal access routes for those seeking protection.

Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis sparked outrage. When asked by Labor politicians about the missing children, he said: “You shouldn’t have come here illegally.”