More than 100,000 undocumented children living in London, says Sadiq Khan

Some 107,000 undocumented under-18s and a further 26,000 undocumented 18- 24-year-olds are currently living in the capital, Sadiq Khan’s London’s Children and Young People Who Are Not British Citizens report says.

Khan brands the figures “a national disgrace” and adds that these children and young people may face problems accessing higher education, health care, opening bank accounts and applying for driving licences, housing and jobs.

Those above the age of 18 “also face the threat of deportation to a country they may never have been to”, the mayor warns. 

Undocumented people can include those who arrived in the UK with proper documentation but stayed longer than permitted, those who arrived in the UK without proper documentation, trafficked children, unaccompanied minors whose temporary leave to remain was withdrawn once they reached adulthood and young people born to parents who are themselves undocumented, the study, commissioned by Khan and carried out by the University of Wolverhampton, says.