UK Could Introduce Knee Scans and Dental Tests for Illegal Immigrants Who Claim to Be Children

An inflatable craft carrying illegal immigrants crosses the shipping lane in the English Channel off the coast of Dover, England, on Aug. 4, 2022. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Scientific advisers have recommended the Home Office introduce MRI scans and X-rays of teeth and bones to check the biological age of illegal immigrants who claim to be children, but the advisers say the tests should be voluntary.

In January 2022 former Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “The practice of single grown adult men, masquerading as children, claiming asylum is an appalling abuse of our system which we will end. By posing as children, these adult men go on to access children’s services and schools through deception and deceit, putting children and young adults in school and care at risk.”

She commissioned the Age Estimation Science Advisory Committee (AESAC) to advise the Home Office on “scientifically based methodologies” which might assist in determining the age of unaccompanied minors whose age was disputed.

The committee’s report, published earlier this week, says, “It must be accepted that there is no infallible method for either biological or social-worker-led age assessment that will provide a perfect match to chronological age.”

But it recommends four methods that could give a reasonable indication of an individual’s true age:

• Radiography (X-ray) of the third molar (wisdom teeth).
• Radiography (X-ray) of the bones of the hand and wrist.
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the knee bones.
• MRI of the clavicle (collar bone).

In 2003 the High Court set down guidelines—following a test case brought by the London Borough of Merton—on how the age of unaccompanied minors be tested if there is no documentary evidence of their age.

The AESAC report said any new process would have to be “Merton-compliant.”

Risk of Ionising Radiation Is ‘Small’

The report said: “There are strong views on the use of ionising radiation in the age assessment process and the interim committee has listened to and debated these arguments at length. However, the risk is recognised to be small and the benefits of a reliable age assessment are considerable for the ongoing health and wellbeing of the individual while minimising safeguarding risks.”

The report said illegal immigrants should be given “clear information explaining the risks and benefits of biological evaluation” in order for them to be able to give their “informed consent.”

Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, has urged Home Secretary Suella Braverman to overrule the advice about making the tests voluntary because of suspicions that many migrants have lied in order to be treated as juveniles.

He told The Times of London: “It is surely in the interests of minors to have supportive evidence confirming they are indeed children. In the event of anyone refusing to be scientifically assessed, the government must have the courage and political will to take a commonsense approach based on physical appearance. It would be absurd to have to accept a claimed age just because a person refuses to be scientifically assessed.”

Killers Refused to Undergo Dental Tests

In 2007 two Nigerian-born brothers who were convicted of killing a woman during a robbery at a christening party in south London had to be sentenced as juveniles because they refused to give permission for dental tests which would have indicated their true age.

Diamond Babamuboni was supposedly 17 and his brother Timy claimed to be 15 but their trial heard their mother had given conflicting accounts of their dates of birth and their Nigerian birth certificates were thought to be forgeries.

Prosecutor Brian Altman, QC, said the pair had “declined” to undergo dental tests.

Mr. Justice Gross told the brothers they would have got 16 years in jail, instead of the eight years he sentenced them to, if they had been proved to be adults.

The AESAC report said: “Development of the third molar is useful for assessing the age of males and females up to around 18 years of age. Development of the hand/wrist or knee can be used to assess the age of females up to around 16 years of age and males up to around 18 years of age.”

It adds: “The clavicle displays the longest period of growth-related activity in the human body, and is therefore of particular value for assessing age of males and females from around 15 years up to around 25 years of age.”

The report goes on to say, “If the existing Merton-compliant process and biological assessments are carried out independently it would be possible to use a likelihood ratio approach based on the known development timeframe of teeth and bones.”

“This approach could compare the likelihood of the age assigned following the Merton-compliant process being possible against the likelihood that the claimed age is possible and show which carries stronger support,” it added.

The Home Office said just over half of illegal immigrants whose ages were challenged were found to be over 18.

A Home Office spokesman told The Times of London: “We will now consider the recommendations. Through our Nationality and Borders Act, we will introduce scientific methods to assess the age of asylum seekers.”