‘The disappearance of hundreds of asylum seeking children out of Home Office run hotels is an issue of acute national concern. After the Observer reported on 21 January 2023 that “[d]ozens of asylum-seeking children ha[d] been kidnapped by gangs from a Brighton hotel run by the Home Office in a pattern apparently being repeated across the south coast”, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick informed the House of Commons that 440 children had gone missing from six hotels since July 2021. Some had been found but 200 remained missing. On 18 February the Observer further reported that children taken from Home Office hotels in Sussex had been found in 18 different police areas. On 26 January over 100 charities wrote to the Prime Minister to request an end to the “unlawful and harmful” practice of placing asylum seeking children in hotels prior to their transfer to local authority care. The charities demanded an urgent independent inquiry into the scandal.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 23rd February 2023

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org