A woman described how her 17-year-old black British son was found in an immigration detention center after disappearing while being treated for psychosis.
The boy, who is non-verbal, disappeared from a hospital in Kent, where he was separated under the Mental Health Act, on April 7. Two days later, he was arrested by the British Transport Police (BTP) in Euston on suspicion of tax evasion before being detained by Immigration Services near Gatwick, despite being British.
“It’s just awful,” said the boy’s mother. “Because it’s black, they just guessed we’d pick it up and put it in a deportation center.”
When the boy was returned to the hospital, his clothes contained documents from the Ministry of the Interior, which incorrectly indicated his name and date of birth and recorded his nationality as a Nigerian.
“How do they know he’s from Nigeria after not even talking to them?” The woman said of her son.
When the hospital learned of his disappearance, the family, local police and the BTP were notified, the woman said, and he was reported missing.
It is unclear where the boy went in the days before his arrest. He is thought to have traveled to Manchester, where the family had lived before trying to return to London without a phone, money or identity.
On the morning of April 9, BTP said they had been notified of a ticket concealer on board a train traveling to London from Manchester. In a statement, BTP said the man had provided a false name and date of birth, stating he was 20 years old.
In Euston, he was arrested on suspicion of tax evasion and taken to police custody in Islington, according to BTP, where “officers were unable to contact the man or verify details provided despite their efforts, including attending the address provided.” The boy’s fingerprints were then taken and he was detained by the Immigration Service.
Documents apparently drawn up at the detention center and seen by the Guardian incorrectly state his name and date of birth and record his Nigerian nationality. He is described as a person who needs permission to enter or stay in the country, which he does not have. One document states that his removal from the United Kingdom is “inevitable” because he has failed to give “satisfactory or reliable answers” to immigration officials.
The boy is a British citizen and has never left the United Kingdom. His mother said he could not say his date of birth correctly and would never say he was from Nigeria.
This week, a BTP commander told her that when they searched the Kent address that the boy had provided, they found a Nigerian family living there. She was told that police had determined that the boy was of Nigerian descent, as he had the same accent as the residents. She disputed this claim, describing her son’s accent when he rarely spoke, as Mancunian and London.
James Wilson, deputy director of Detention Action, which works with people facing removal, said unaccompanied minors or children under the age of 18 should not be detained in the first place. “In theory, detention should be an absolute last resort, not an early step you would take,” he said.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said: “We rely on information provided by our police partners when a person is referred to the Immigration Service. In this case, the person declared himself an adult male to the British Transport Police. The police nurses evaluated him and did not raise any physical or mental problems.
The spokesman said the person had not provided more information to the Immigration Services and, once his true identity had been established, he had been returned to the care of the mental health services.
BTP said they were reviewing the incident internally.
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