After his election victory, Boris Johnson redrafted the EU withdrawal bill and 328 Conservative MPs voted down the amendment from Labour peer Alf Dubs on January 8. The amendment aims to secure rights for unaccompanied child refugees to be reunited with families in Britain under the Dublin regulations after Britain leaves the EU. Several days later, Home Office ministers urged Dubs, who fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and came to Britain on the kindertransport in 1939, to stop pushing for the amendment.
Back in 2016, Alf Dubs had introduced the amendment to the then Immigration Act which promised to offer 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children safe passage to Britain. The Home Office then rejected applications from thousands of children in the Calais area without offering any explanation, leaving many minors entrapped and without hope. Over the following years, only 200 children were allowed into Britain under the Dubs scheme.
Back in 2016, Alf Dubs had introduced the amendment to the then Immigration Act which promised to offer 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children safe passage to Britain.
Today, there is considerable support from society for family reunion rights for unaccompanied child refugees. However, some advocates of these rights are also defenders of a tough stance on keeping out those who don’t qualify for refugee status – like many of those in the Calais area in 2016 – who also wanted to reunite with family members in Britain. Even Dubs himself once argued that “European governments must get tough on economic migrants or risk disadvantaging genuine refugees”.
