A legal battle to stop lone children being smuggled into England as ‘anchors’ for their parents has been launched by the Home Office.
The case centres on two boys, aged nine and six, who arrived on the beach at Dover without their parents last July.
They had become separated from their family during a chaotic small-boat launch which led to their mother and father being left behind in Calais.
The parents are now ‘desperate’ to be reunited with their children – but want this to happen in Britain, where they intend to claim asylum.
However, the Home Office fears that inviting them into the country will set a dangerous precedent, encouraging other migrants to ‘game the system’ by sending unaccompanied children over the Channel.
Court papers reveal the case has been discussed ‘at the highest level’ between British and French officials.
The Kurdish brothers – identified as MIK and MAK – are in foster care in Kent and speak to their parents, named as EK and SK, on the phone twice a day.
In November, asylum judges ruled the Home Office was breaching the boys’ human rights by failing to bring their parents to the UK, and ordered the Home Secretary to make urgent arrangements to admit them.
The ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeal, which acknowledged the ‘reasonable and legitimate’ fears that it could set a bad example. Dr Meirav Elimelech, deputy director of the Home Office’s asylum and protection unit, told the court that the safety of all child migrants was at stake.
She said: ‘Admitting parents of children into the UK will increase the risk that children are placed on boats unaccompanied. If migrants are aware that sending a young child unaccompanied by an adult will make it more likely that a court will direct urgent reunification in the UK, without [an] asylum decision having to be made, then this is further incentive for behaviour that endangers children.’
EK and SK said they fled their native Turkey because the father faced persecution due to his ‘political activities’.
They travelled through Europe, staying briefly with relatives in Belgium. But they did not want to claim asylum there because they were concerned about ‘tensions’ between the French and Flemish-speaking communities.
They also refused to seek asylum in France because they believe that ‘Turkish intelligence is very strong’ and ‘Kurdish people are being killed’ in the country. EK said the couple resolved to enter the UK illegally and claim asylum.
The Home Office told the Court of Appeal that the French interior minister had agreed the family must be reunited in France.
A final decision will be made by the family court.