This report, an Inspection of the Initial Processing of Migrants Arriving via Small Boats between December 2021 and January 2022, published recently after a three-month delay, focused on protecting the border through security checks and the identification and safeguarding of vulnerable people. It said that ‘these migrants crossed the Channel in dire circumstances. Many were vulnerable and at risk, including children and women on their own, and when they arrived in Dover the way they were dealt with was unacceptable’. This was because the Home Office had ‘failed’ to improve its systems from ‘a crisis response to having better systems and procedures in place and treating this as business as usual’.
He described data collection on migrants as ‘inexcusably awful’. A number of migrants had subsequently absconded, many of these before the relevant biometrics such as fingerprints and photographs were taken. The report concluded ‘if we don’t have a record of people coming into the country, then we do not know who is threatened or who is threatening.’ To read the report, go to https://bit.ly/3d6DDIB