The right-wing Daily Mail newspaper reports that 52 migrants coming to the UK in the past decade succeeded with initially claiming that they were underage only to be found they were in fact 30 years of age or older later on. 

The information was reportedly obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request — which allows right of access to information held by public authorities, such as the Home Office in this case.

Desperate measures

The information also shows that roughly 1,500 adults coming to the UK last year claimed to be children at first — though in the vast majority of those cases they did not pass initial checks: almost two thirds of such age disputes were resolved quickly, showing that the applicant was actually an adult during initial assessments.

The government figures obtained show the rate of people claiming to be underage has risen four times in 2021 compared to the past. The previous year, only 384 migrants to the UK had claimed to be children and were later found to be adults. In the eight years preceding, the average number of false claims of being underage stood at 355 cases per year.

With the UK clamping down on irregular migration with new laws and the prospect of sending asylum applicants to Rwanda for processing and resettling, migrants appear to be resorting to desperate measures to gain a foothold in Britain.

According to reports, people smugglers are trying to cash in on this desperation by taking young-looking migrants staying in France and Belgium across the English Channel; the UK authorities say that among other things, smugglers tell these migrants to destroy their identification documents before getting on the boat in order to improve their chances of passing as a child migrant.

Read more: How is age of asylum seekers determined?

Combatting terrorism and crime

According to UK legislation, migrants whose appearance qualifies as 25 year of age or younger are to be treated as children under the law — unless they prove otherwise. However, testing methods to deliberate the age of migrants are limited, with many false claimants falling through the cracks of the system.

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel tightened the guidelines this year by requiring that migrants who appear to look older than 18 (but younger than 25) be subject to further tests.

Patel pledged to do everything in her power to remove foreign criminals, including those who come to the UK under false claims of being underage. She highlighted that this would be done by launching a new unit that will be tasked with assessing those who claim to be children.

In 2015, a migrant to the UK had gained protection status after claiming to be 16; two years later, he attacked a crowd at a west London Underground station with an explosive device, injuring 27 people in the name of the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) terror group.

So far this year, the UK has deported over 1,700 foreign nationals with criminal records. The Home Office says that "(t)he renewed focus on removals, part of the New Plan for Immigration, is fulfilling the government's commitment to keep the British public safe and tackle illegal migration."

Home Secretary Patel added: "The British public rightly expect us to crack down hard on those abusing the system which is why our new Nationality and Borders Act will help end the cycle of last-minute claims and appeals that can delay removals."

Read more: UK High Court rules against government in migrant age assessment case

Medical tests amount to 'intrusion'

There are no details available yet on the methods that the Home Office will use in future to faithfully assess the age of asylum applicants, and whether there might be certain human rights issues involved in doing so. There are also no indications on whether this is going to help lower crime rates in the UK.

Ideas that have been floated in the past to assess the age of applicants include taking X-ray images or other radiology exams designed to verify their claims by looking at bone structure. While these tests would likely only be carried out in cases where the stated age of applicants appeared to be questionable, rights groups have raised their concerns about both the ethics and the practicability of such examinations.

Read more: Germany looks into ultrasound age tests on unaccompanied minor refugees

When a similar idea was floated in Germany in 2018, the German Medical Association (Bundesärztekammer) said that such medical age tests for migrants could amount to an "intrusion of the person's physical integrity."