Plan to handcuff migrant youngsters branded a ‘sustained assault on kids’, Starmer warned
In a scathing letter, nearly 150 charities and organisations that support children have called on the Government to change course on its controversial migration shake-up
Nearly 150 children’s organisations have written to Keir Starmer and Shabana Mahmood demanding they change course(Image: WPA Pool, Getty Images)
Nearly 150 children’s groups have accused the Government of a “sustained attack on children’s rights” as they demanded a U-turn on proposals to handcuff kids during deportations.
The groups described plans to ramp up the amount of force allowed on children as “abhorrent”. And they warned that changes to settlement rules will trap tens of thousands of youngsters in poverty.
The Government is consulting on allowing officers to handcuff and physically handle children onto removal flights if they resist. In a letter to Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood the groups – including the British Association of Social Workers, Children’s Rights Alliance for England and The Fostering Network – said: “To describe such harm to children as ‘unfortunate but necessary and justified’ is abhorrent.”
The 148 groups wrote: “We are writing to you as organisations and charities on the frontline of supporting children in the UK, to raise our concerns about a sustained attack on children’s rights emerging from recent migration policy.”
Rita Waters, group chief executive of the National Youth Advocacy Service, said: “Either we treat every child as equally special and deserving of our protection, or we become a place that would wrestle and handcuff a child who can’t bring themselves to let go of their parent’s hand as they are being pulled apart.”
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The Home Office said it “makes no apologies” about taking steps to bring the immigration system under control. In March it opened a consultation as part of plans to remove families with no legal right to be in the UK.
Ms Mahmood said families whose application to live in the UK is refused will face forcible eviction if they do not accept incentive payments to leave. This could include handcuffing kids and using force as a last resort, the document said.
The groups told the PM and Home Secretary: “We urge you to change course, and create policy that reflects simple facts we all know to be true. Children who grow up here belong here.”
Ms Mahmood has put forward a package of measures which she says will make the immigration and asylum system fairer. These include making refugee status temporary – meaning people face reviews every 30 months and could be removed if their homeland is deemed safe.
The Home Secretary also plans to double the standard time when migrants become eligible for indefinite leave to remain (ILR). The children’s organisations say this will impact tens of thousands of children, and could keep 90,000 in poverty as they are ineligible for most benefits.
They have called on the Government to carry out a child rights impact assessment to determine how young people will be affected. Amina Khanom, director of Reset Communities for Refugees said: “I migrated to the UK as a child and grew up in poverty, so I know how critical stability and security are to a child’s future.
“These proposals risk taking that away from hundreds of thousands of children, forcing them to grow up with uncertainty and fear. Every child deserves the chance to feel safe, settled and able to plan for their future. We advocate for welcome, not hardship.”
Leyla Williams, Deputy Director, West London Welcome said: “The resounding majority of people in this country do not want to see children deported, put in handcuffs or treated with force – we have all watched clips of the violent behaviour of ICE in the United States and people here do not want that on our streets.”
A consultation document, seen by The Mirror, said that nearly a quarter of failed enforced returns are due to disruption involving families. In the majority of cases, it states, this involves a child. Each enforced removal of a family, it says, costs an average of £96,000.
It said officers would be expected to use the minimum level of physical contact required. Pain-inducing techniques and approaches that would affect a person’s breathing would be banned.
The proposal said officers would be allowed to use physical force – including handcuffs in the most serious cases – against children. It says: “This will apply to cases in which a child is directly involved, such as a child wilfully and aggressively refusing to board a plane or not leaving a vehicle at a parent’s request, as well as cases in which a child is indirectly involved, such as a parent refusing to release a child’s hand.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “Between 2021 and 2024 this country experienced levels of migration it had historically seen over four decades. We must be honest about the scale and impact of hundreds of thousands of low-skilled migrants getting settlement.
“We are reforming a broken immigration system and make no apologies for taking the necessary action to restore order, while in tandem delivering on the government’s commitment to reduce child poverty and educational inequality.”
