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Asylum seekers pretending to be teenagers for faster processing
IMMIGRATION detainees are pretending to be teens to get their visa applications processed quicker and live in better conditions.Victoria's biggest youth immigration detention centre in Broadmeadows is filled with many asylum seekers claiming to be under 18 to escape the tougher regulations for adults, an investigation has discovered. Secret photos obtained by the Herald Sun reveal men with obvious signs of ageing, including crow's-feet, wrinkles around their eyes and receding hairlines. Experts say the men are more likely to be aged in their 20s. Several Immigration Department sources have confirmed the con. Immigration officials lack time and resources to investigate people's ages so they deliver them to youth detention centres with "a wry smile", a whistleblower said. "There are some massive guys, we're talking about man mountains, in the centre. Sixteen-year-olds just aren't built like that," the source said. Adult detainees bullied genuine youngsters at the facility, it was revealed. University of Technology Sydney forensic anatomist Dr Meiya Sutisno said an initial assessment of a selection of the photographs showed men not minors. "They are not juveniles, definitely not," she said. Dr Sutisno said the men in photos she had seen were aged between 18 and their late-20s. Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the age scam had become widely known among asylum seekers and the department was unable to prove people's ages. "They (the department) have no idea how old these people are," he said. "They just guess." Sources revealed: MANY detainees deliberately have no documentation of their age so they can lie about how old they are. SOME asylum seekers have privately confessed to being more than a decade older than they claimed. INMATES at the Broadmeadows facility have boasted about escaping at night to get McDonald's. Asylum Seeker Resource Centre coordinator Pamela Curr said many didn't know their ages because it was not in their culture to celebrate birthdays. "They say what they have been told to say by people smugglers." Posted by: Delphi 2011-05-15 |
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