by Tim Sigsworth, Telegraph
Care4Calais supports asylum seekers challenging Home Office assessments of their age
A British asylum charity repeatedly tried to persuade judges that lying adult migrants were children, a Telegraph investigation has found.
Care4Calais, which distributes clothing, tents and food to migrants in northern France, supported balding and wrinkled asylum seekers who claimed to be under 18, helping them challenge Home Office assessments that they were adults.
The Telegraph uncovered a series of cases in which the charity helped migrants dispute official assessments of their age.
In one case, a Sudanese man in his 20s was placed in children’s accommodation after Care4Calais referred him to a local council.
Immigration courts later rejected such claims, finding that those involved had tried to deceive the authorities to gain the “advantages” of being treated as a child asylum seeker. These include access to school places and council accommodation rather than hotels used to house adult asylum seekers.
Responding to The Telegraph’s investigation, Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, called for Care4Calais to be investigated by the Charity Commission.
“If male illegal immigrants in their 20s get away with pretending to be under 18 and are then placed with teenage girls in schools, the risks are obvious,” he said.
Read also: Investigative journalist Charlotte Gill’s weekly round-up: Asylum and migration charities & foreign funding on the Left