MPs Attack the Detention of Children in UK Emigration Centers

It now seems that a home affairs select committee says that too many children are being held at detention centers for too long of a time. They say that too many children are being kept in these centers, and it is costing taxpayers in the UK greatly, according to a cross party group of MPs.

Just recently, a report from the home affairs select committee said that statistics suggest that about 1,000 children every year are held in secure emigration centers while they and their families await removal from the UK. However, what was very troubling to the group was that no one was able to give an exact number held or an overview of their welfare. Thus, the committee is calling for reform of the asylum process to speed it up.

The report shows that children spend an average of more than a fortnight in detention centers. This means that stays up to 61 days are not uncommon at all. Some children get released and then re-detained. The committee says that the detention of a child was difficult to justify and should only ever be used as a last resort. It actually costs £130 a day to detain someone, thus, holding a family of four for four to eight weeks can cost more than £20,000.

The committee also went on to say that it was very concerned that appeals and applications for asylum are taking far too long to go through. Almost 90 percent of judicial review applications have not been heard.

The committee chairman, Keith Vaz, said that the present practice was unacceptable. He went on to point out that these children, which are being held in detention centers, have done nothing wrong, yet they are being punished. The Yarl's Wood detention center, which is made up of almost all children emigrants, is essentially a prison and should be no place for a child at all.