Member

Amendment 165 would permit children to sponsor a wide range of family members. The Home Office believes that this would risk creating incentives for more children to be encouraged, even forced, to leave their family, to risk hazardous journeys to the UK and to be put unnecessarily in harm’s way. It would allow people smugglers, in particular, to exploit those children further. Our policy is not designed to keep child refugees apart from their parents, but we have to consider the implications to date.