MIGRANTS will get X-rays and MRI scans to stop people pretending to be kids to stay in Britain under new plans.
Robert Jenrick last night confirmed officials were finally set to green light a new set of plans to use “scientific method of age assessment” to discover people’s true ages.
Migrants will get X-rays and MRI scans to stop people pretending to be kids to stay in Britain under new plans
It came after a Home Office review confirmed it would be possible – but may not be completely accurate.
The immigration minister told MPs: “We’re going to carefully consider that and come forward with a proposal in due course.
“I would like to think we could implement that as quickly as possible, but it is a complex and sensitive area.”
He said ministers needed to “learn lessons” after a killer lied his way into the UK and went on to kill an aspiring Royal Martine.
Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai was sentenced to life in jail for at least 29 years after stabbing Thomas Roberts in Bournemouth.
He told MPs it was a “disturbing case”, adding: “We need to learn lessons from that and we are conducting an internal review to understand exactly what happened and every opportunity that there might have been to establish that individual’s past, and we will make changes, if necessary, to ensure that doesn’t happen again.
“The fundamental challenge is that a very large number of people are arriving … and saying that they are minors when they might not be, and we need to put in place more robust procedures than we currently have so that we can test the veracity of their claims.”
Yesterday former Home Secretary Priti Patel piled pressure on ministers to bring forward the new rules to stop people exploiting our laws “as a matter of national urgency”.
It came as he confirmed that kids and families face being removed to Rwanda to claim asylum in a bid to put off chancers pretending to be underage or related.
Mr Jenrick insisted flights to the African nation will still go ahead – but would be delayed as campaigners launch another appeal.
At the moment migrants who cross the Channel as a family are not routinely separated, but there are fears lone men may use this as a loophole to try and stay in the UK.
Mr Jenrick said ministers are still weighing up the pros and cons as they look to send flights for asylum-seekers later this year but feared it could see the UK continue to be a “magnet” for people-traffickers focused on families.
He told MPs: “We wouldn’t want to see a situation where adult males were deterred but the people smugglers continued with a particular focus on families…. that is a very real concern if it were the only route to remain in the UK.”
New laws to close modern slavery loopholes are on the way “this year”, he promised, “which will make a number of changes to the immigration and asylum system to reduce small boats crossings”.
