Two hundred unaccompanied migrant minors who were staying in British hotels have disappeared. The British government is accused by the opposition of “abandoning the children” announced on Tuesday.

Responding to a question on the matter in Parliament, the Under-Secretary for Immigration Robert Jenrick said that since July 2021 4,600 unaccompanied minors have been accommodated in hotels, at a time when the record number of those crossing the Channel in small boats (it was 45,000 in 2022 ) is putting the UK asylum system under pressure.

According to Jenrick, 440 “disappearances” have been reported and 200 of these children have yet to be located. 13 were under the age of 16 and only one is a girl.

88% of the missing are Albanians. The rest come from Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Vietnam, Pakistan and Turkey.

“When a child goes missing, a protocol is put in place for the police and local authorities to determine their whereabouts and ensure their safety,” the minister continued, explaining that minors are not held in hotels and are free to leave whenever they want.

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According to Tory MP Tim Lawton, there have been no reports to Sussex Police of children being abducted by gangs. On Sunday, The Observer newspaper reported on the abductions of children staying at a hotel in the seaside town of Brighton, citing a witness who works for a Home Office supplier. The newspaper also cited sources in the juvenile protection services.

However, other Interior Ministry sources told the paper that it was “not true” that unaccompanied minors were kidnapped from their hotels.