Mr Neill found that even basic records of biographical information taken by Border Force officers were riddled with inconsistencies and errors. Nearly 1,000 of the 7,000 entries had surnames consisting of only numbers, symbols or single letters such as “#”, “M021 #17 Hamid”, “#27”, “9” or “cuff”.
Age was verified by a piece of cardboard with numbers from 1 to 63 written on it. Migrants were asked to give a number to show how old they were, although most came from countries “where the Latin alphabet is not used”.
There were no translators, so officers used a mixture of speaking slowly in English, showing question sheets in different languages, using other migrants to translate, asking migrants to write their details on Post-It notes or asking them to enter their own information of Border Force System.
“These methods are not ideal and risk errors in the information collection process,” the report said. There were also concerns that migrants had been found with weapons after being searched by Border Force officers.
Mr Neill’s report blamed the Home Office’s “ineffective and ineffective” response for the lapses, which exposed gaps in security procedures and put vulnerable migrants at risk.
Children were often forced to sleep in the same rooms as elderly male migrants. Home Office officers do not ask about pregnancy, meaning that unless a woman physically shows signs of carrying a child, identification depends on specific questions.
The recommendations put forward by Mr Neill were accepted by the Home Office, which said: “There is still work to be done, but much of this report is now historical in nature and the criticisms identified reflect processes and procedures which are not now being followed in the new operation.”
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