New report finds that children continue to be prosecuted for arriving across the Channel

A new report from Humans for Rights Network, Oxford Border Criminologies, Refugee Legal Support and Captain Support UK, “I told them the truth” looks at the ongoing criminalisation of people, including age disputed children, arriving in the UK in small boats from February 2024 to April 2025. This is an update to a February 2024 report which looked at the same data for the period June 2022 to January 2024.

This report uses observations from casework and research to look at how the offences of ‘illegal arrival’ and ‘facilitation’ are being used against people arriving to the UK via the Channel. The report finds that there is no evidence that such prosecutions have any deterrent effect. It also finds that the people being prosecuted are not the ones who significantly benefit from the crossings, in material or financial terms.

In particular, the report looks at the prosecution of age disputed children and case studies of those affected are provided. It is estimated that an absolute minimum of 29 age disputed children have been prosecuted since June 2022, however there is a lack of transparency from prisons, the Crown Prosecution Service, Home Office, and Ministry of Justice on this issue, and the true number is expected to be much higher.

The report also raises concerns about proposals in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill to create yet more criminal offences that will be used to target refugees. The key findings are as follows:

• In June 2022, the Nationality and Borders Act (NABA) introduced the new criminal offence of ‘illegal arrival’, effectively criminalising seeking asylum in the UK. This offence has since been used against people arriving on ‘small boats’. Those selected for prosecution are usually either a) those accused of piloting the dinghy, or b) those with a ‘previous immigration history’ in the UK. However, the offence is so broad as to enable prosecutions to be brought against anyone arriving.
• Overall, from the introduction of the NABA offences on 28th June 2022 until the end of 2024, the best available data suggests that 556 people were charged with ‘illegal arrival’ having arrived on ‘small boats’, and 455 convicted. Approximately half were convicted after being identified with their ‘hand on the tiller’ of the dinghy.
• Almost all those imprisoned having arrived on a ‘small boat’ will have claimed asylum in the hours before their arrest. UN bodies have criticised these prosecutions as breaching the UK’s obligations under the Refugee Convention, and in particular Article 31, which is intended to protect refugees from penalisation for how they arrive to a country to seek asylum.
• Potential victims of trafficking are regularly being convicted for ‘illegal arrival’ and imprisoned without ever being referred into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), or having the circumstances of their potential trafficking and the link between this and their alleged offence considered.
• The criminalisation of people crossing the channel persists under the Labour Government, with those most at risk of exploitation continuing to be targeted. Those prosecuted include people seeking asylum, victims of trafficking, torture, modern slavery, and children.
• Children continue to be arrested and charged with these offences. Upon arrest they are detained in cells in police stations, including overnight, where they are treated as adults and denied access to necessary safeguards.
• Since our last report in February 2024, we have identified 14 more children with ongoing age disputes who have been charged with immigration offences. At least six were arrested and charged since the new Labour government was elected. To date, this means that at least 29 children with ongoing age disputes have been arrested for immigration offences’. At least 18 of these children spent time in adult prison, sharing cells with adults.
• Of the 29 children with age disputes identified, 17 have now subsequently had their ages accepted as under 18 at the time of their arrival by local authorities or independent social workers. Others continue to undergo Merton compliant age assessments and dispute their ages in the courts.