MIGRANTS making dangerous Channel crossings will undergo X-ray checks to verify their age when they arrive in Dover.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman is proposing the biological checks using the latest technology to stop adults coming to the UK pretending to be children.
A review by social workers revealed more than half of asylum seekers claiming to be under 18 were in fact adults
Home Secretary Suella Braverman is proposing the biological checks using new tech to prevent adults coming to the UK with false records
The proposals to use scientific methods will be included in new legislation to help stop the small boats’ crossing which MPs will vote on next week.
More than half of disputed cases reviewed by social workers that asylum seekers claiming to be under 18 were adults but used the system to gain better benefits.
An individual’s age is determined by a visual assessment but when doubt remains technology can be used.
Tory MP John Hayes said: “Other European countries already use best technology. This will end the outrage of adults as old as 40 pretending to be children.
“The government’s amendment will help children.”
The Illegal Migration Bill aims to change the law to make it clear that people arriving here won’t be allowed to remain here.
Ministers will also be allowed to ignore interim rulings from the European Court of Human Rights that stops deportation flights from taking off.
Instead, any court hearings would be held remotely after the individual has been removed and someone would only be allowed to apply if they faced harm in the country they were due to be removed to.
New powers will also be given to immigration officers to search for and seize mobile phones to help assess if they have any right to remain here.
Rishi Sunak has made stopping the boats one of his five priorities after 45,000 migrants made the journey to the UK across the Channel last year.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “The British public are rightly fed up with people coming to the UK through dangerous small boat crossings, and myself and the Prime Minister are absolutely committed to stopping the boats once and for all.
“The changes I am announcing today will help secure our borders and make it easier for us to remove people by preventing them from making last minute, bogus claims, while ensuring we strengthen our safe and legal routes.
“My focus remains on ensuring this landmark piece of legislation does what it is intended to do, and we now must work to pass it through Parliament as soon as possible so we can stop the boats.”
