Fears raised for 40 children still missing from asylum-seeker hotels

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/fears-raised-40-children-still-missing-asylum-seeker-hotels

FORTY children remain missing from asylum-seeker hotels and could have become victims of trafficking or exploitation, MPs warned today.

More than 400 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children went missing from Home Office hotels, it emerged in 2023. 

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) said today that 40 of the youngsters, two of whom remain under 18, had still not been found as of June. The use of hotels to house lone child asylum-seekers was banned in 2023.

Last year then border security and asylum minister Dame Angela Eagle told the committee that some of those found were “located in exploitative situations and may have been trafficked or victims of other forms of exploitation.”

The JCHR said that it continues “to be extremely concerned about the fact that some children who went missing from asylum hotels in previous years remain missing.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/fears-raised-40-children-still-missing-asylum-seeker-hotels