UK Government plans to MRI scan asylum seeking children branded 'reprehensible'

Those seeking asylum and claiming to be under 18 years old will need to have MRI scans and X-rays taken to prove they are children under the Illegal Migration Act

The Scottish Government has branded plans to use MRI scanners on children claiming asylum in the UK as “reprehensible”.

UK Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick has confirmed the UK Government plans to use MRI scans of knees and collar bones and X-rays of teeth, hands and wrists to determine the age of asylum seekers as part of the Illegal Migration Act 2023.

Under the new laws, anyone who refuses this age assessment will have this counted against them when their asylum claim is processed.

Scottish Minister for Children and Young People Natalie Don. Image: Lisa Ferguson/National World.

Natalie Don, Scottish minister for children and young people, has now written to Mr Jenrick saying his government is using children as “pawns” to fuel a culture war.

However the UK Home Office says the medical tests are necessary to “remove any incentives for adults to pretend to be children in order to remain in the UK”.

Ms Don said: “The Scottish Government is fundamentally opposed to these controversial plans which risk the rights of children who’ve already been through unimaginable hardship, threaten them with being forced to leave the country, and which have been condemned by human rights groups across the world.

“The UK Government is using children who’ve already suffered incredible trauma as pawns, as they continue to fuel a culture war in an attempt to appeal to the most extreme voices.

UK Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick. Image: Peter Nicholls/Getty Images.

“The Scottish Government will continue to oppose these reprehensible plans.

“How we treat unaccompanied asylum seeking children is a question of values - and the values of the UK Government are incompatible with the progressive, inclusive values of people in Scotland.”

According to Home Office figures, between January 2016 and June 2023 there were 30,114 asylum applications made by unaccompanied children under the age of 18.

Age was disputed in 11,275 of these cases, and of these 5,551 were found to be adults.

A spokesperson for the UK Home Office said: “It’s vital that we remove incentives for adults to pretend to be children in order to remain in the UK.

“We are strengthening the age-verification process through the national age assessment board, introducing scientific assessments such as X-rays and measures under the Illegal Migration Act which will help ensure assessments are robust and further protect children.

“We will only treat someone claiming to be a child as an adult if two officers have separately determined that the individual’s physical appearance and demeanour very strongly suggests they are significantly over 18 years of age.”