Children detained, then handed over, then re-trafficked within weeks
At the edges of Europe's most contested border, children traveling alone have been held in British-run detention facilities on French soil nearly 300 times in a single year — a quiet administrative reality that official statistics never recorded. The practice, revealed only through freedom of information requests, raises enduring questions about what duty of care a government owes to the most vulnerable people it encounters, and whether the machinery of border control can ever be made compatible with the protection of children. That some of these children were subsequently re-trafficked after passing through facilities meant to safeguard them suggests the cost of this ambiguity is not abstract.
- Nearly 300 unaccompanied children were detained in UK-run facilities in France last year — a 10% rise — yet none of this appeared in official UK immigration statistics, surfacing only through a freedom of information request.
- Inspectors found poor conditions and critical safeguarding failures, including two cases where children were re-trafficked after being handed to French authorities — among them a 14-year-old girl later found in a warehouse, fearing forced prostitution.
- Refugee organisations and a coalition of over 50 NGOs are sounding the alarm, calling the figures shocking and demanding the government explain how so many unaccompanied minors entered a detention system designed for adults.
- The UK is pressing ahead with plans to expand detention infrastructure in France under a £660 million deal, even as a French environmental group mounts a legal challenge to withdraw the permit for a half-built Dunkirk facility.
- The Home Office insists detention is used sparingly and only to protect children from threatening adults — but documented failures suggest the system is producing the very harms it claims to prevent.
British-run detention facilities in northern France held unaccompanied children 284 times last year, according to documents obtained through a freedom of information request — a 10 percent rise from the previous year, and part of roughly 900 such instances recorded over four years. The four sites near Calais and Dunkirk are designed as short-term holding centres, intended to detain suspected clandestine travellers for no more than 24 hours. Yet the data tells a more troubling story, and one that has never appeared in the UK's official immigration statistics.
Inspectors who visited the facilities documented poor conditions and serious safeguarding failures. Most gravely, authorities could not locate referral records for two vulnerable children who were subsequently re-trafficked after being transferred to French border police. One was a 14-year-old girl found hidden in a holdall inside a car; the other, a 16-year-old boy with a documented history of trafficking and abuse. Both were later found in the UK — the girl in a warehouse with five other women, having escaped fearing she would be forced into prostitution. The chief inspector of prisons described the failure to locate their safeguarding referrals as particularly concerning.
Refugee organisations have responded with alarm. The Refugee Council called the figures shocking, insisting that refugee children are children first. The Detention Forum, representing more than 50 NGOs, warned that the government's plans to expand detention infrastructure in France must be matched with urgent accountability measures. Meanwhile, a French environmental group has launched a legal challenge to a new detention centre being built in Dunkirk as part of a £660 million bilateral deal, arguing its construction permit violates local planning rules.
The Home Office defended the practice as a tool used sparingly to protect children from adults who pose a threat. But the documented cases suggest a system where children remain vulnerable even inside the facilities meant to shield them — and where the mechanisms designed to keep them safe have already failed in ways that cannot be undone.
Freedom of Information documents released this week reveal that British-run detention facilities in northern France held unaccompanied children on 284 separate occasions last year—a figure that has alarmed refugee advocates and raised fresh questions about how the UK government oversees the treatment of minors at its own border operations abroad.
The four facilities in question—Coquelles freight, Coquelles tourist, Calais tourist, and Dunkirk—are ostensibly short-term holding sites, designed to detain suspected clandestine travellers and those with questionable paperwork for no more than 24 hours. Yet the data obtained by the Guardian tells a different story about their actual use. Over the past four years, these UK-run centres have held unaccompanied minors in roughly 900 documented instances. Last year's figure of 284 cases represents a 10 percent increase from 2024, when 258 children were detained across the sites. The year before that saw a dramatic 197 percent jump from 2023's 87 cases. In 2022, the number stood at 253.
What makes these numbers particularly troubling is the opacity surrounding them. Despite being operated by the British government, data on who is held at these facilities does not appear in the UK's official immigration statistics. The information only emerged through a Freedom of Information request. Inspectors who visited the sites last year documented what they described as poor conditions and raised serious safeguarding concerns. Most damning was the discovery that authorities had failed to locate referrals for two vulnerable children who were subsequently re-trafficked after being handed over to French border police.
One case illustrates the stakes with brutal clarity. A 14-year-old girl, discovered zipped inside a holdall in a car, was detained at one of these facilities. So was a 16-year-old boy with a documented history of trafficking and abuse. Both were then transferred to French authorities. Approximately a month later, the girl was smuggled into the UK and found held in a warehouse with five other women. She managed to escape, fearing she would be forced into prostitution. The boy was also subsequently located in the UK. Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, noted at the time that it was particularly concerning Border Force could not locate the safeguarding referrals for these two children, who went on to be re-trafficked.
Refugee organisations have responded with alarm. Kama Petruczenko of the Refugee Council called the figures shocking and emphasised that refugee children are children first, not administrative cases to be processed through detention. She questioned how so many unaccompanied minors came to be held in these facilities in the first place and called on the government to explain itself. Jonathan Ellis of the Detention Forum, which represents more than 50 UK NGOs, warned that the government's plans to expand its detention infrastructure in France must be accompanied by urgent measures to address accountability and procedural safeguards. Maddie Harris of the Humans for Rights Network described it as shocking that hundreds of unaccompanied children have been detained in British-run facilities after enduring traumatic journeys, only to face further harm.
The controversy arrives as the UK faces a legal challenge to a new detention centre being built in Dunkirk as part of a £660 million deal signed last month. An environmental group called Adelfa has launched a court case in France arguing that the permit for the half-built facility should be withdrawn because it violates local planning rules. The new centre was intended to hold migrants caught attempting to cross the Channel in small boats and was scheduled to open by autumn.
A Home Office spokesperson defended the practice, stating that where serious safeguarding concerns are identified—such as when a child is crossing the border with an adult posing a threat—the child is brought into UK care, and this is done sparingly and for the shortest possible time. The government framed its ability to remove children from adults it deems threatening as critical to tackling abuse and people trafficking. Yet the data and the documented cases suggest a system where children remain vulnerable even within the facilities meant to protect them, and where the mechanisms designed to safeguard them have demonstrably failed.
Notable Quotes
It was particularly worrying that Border Force could not locate safeguarding referrals of vulnerable detainees, including two children who were subsequently re-trafficked.— Charlie Taylor, chief inspector of prisons
Refugee children are children first and foremost. They should not be held in unsuitable detention settings or exposed to processes that risk their welfare.— Kama Petruczenko, Refugee Council
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does the UK run detention centres in France at all? Isn't that unusual?
It's part of the UK's border operations—they're trying to process people before they reach British soil. But the arrangement creates a legal grey zone. These aren't UK prisons, they're on French territory, so there's less transparency and oversight than there would be domestically.
And the children—how do unaccompanied minors end up in these facilities?
They're caught in vehicles or attempting to cross. The UK argues it's sometimes necessary to detain them briefly to assess whether they're with adults who pose a threat. But the data shows it's happening far more often than the government initially acknowledged, and the safeguarding systems aren't working.
The re-trafficking cases—how does that even happen if these are supposed to be safe facilities?
The inspectors found that Border Force couldn't locate safeguarding referrals for vulnerable children. So children who should have been flagged as at-risk were handed to French authorities without proper handover protocols. Once they left the facility, they were vulnerable again.
Is the government defending this practice?
They say it's necessary to protect children from traffickers. But the charities argue the opposite—that detention itself puts children at risk, and that the UK should be finding alternatives rather than building more facilities.
What happens next?
The new detention centre in Dunkirk is facing a legal challenge on environmental grounds. But the real pressure is on the government to explain why child detentions have surged and what it's doing to prevent re-trafficking.