Denmark: 800 Asylum Seekers Age Tested - 600 Children Were Adults

This year, doctors at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Copenhagen, have been exceptionally busy investigating the age of asylum seekers who have arrived without parents and say they are under 18, writes Jyllands-Posten.

The Immigration Service is asking forensic experts for help if they suspect that a so-called unaccompanied minor in fact is an adult. From X-rays of the finger bone and teeth, the person's age is determined.

And by the end of November, about 800 age tests have been performed, said the agency.

It is more than twice as many as in the previous record year - last year. The forensic institute estimates that the figure could reach 1,000 by the end of the year.

In the cases settled, three out of four - 74 percent - or almost 600 people - have been estimated to be over 18 years old.

Minors have a number of advantages during the asylum phase. And once they get asylum, they can, in contrast to adults, immediately apply to have their parents come as family reunification.

Martin Henriksen, the Danish People's Party's immigration spokesman, believes that it is deliberate swindling.

- They try to swindle into a residence and benefits that they are not entitled to, says Martin Henriksen told Jyllands-Posten.

He believes that we must now accept the consequences and age test everyone, unless it is obviously about small children.

That is, however rejected by Minister for Immigration, Integration and Housing, Inger Støjberg, who believes that the system already works.

- The Immigration Service is making great efforts to uncover those who cheat, and are also starting to look at whether this can happen even faster, she says to Jyllands-Posten.

Eva Singer, asylum-chief of the Danish Refugee Council, does not recognize the picture that it is deliberate cheating.

- There are many of these young people who do not know exactly how old they are, because it's not something that they register in their home countries in the same way as in Denmark, says Eva Singer, who also points out that there are uncertainties associated with age testing.

Then of course, refugees put bread on her table.