{"id":173824,"date":"2026-07-10T10:12:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T08:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/?p=173824"},"modified":"2026-07-10T09:27:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T07:27:13","slug":"chockerande-siffror-sa-manga-ensamkommande-flyktingbarn-ar-barn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/shocking-figures-so-many-unaccompanied-refugee-children-are-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Shocking figures: this is how many \u201dunaccompanied refugee children\u201d are actually children"},"content":{"rendered":"
Shocking figures from Spain debunk the myth of \u201dunaccompanied refugee children.\u201d In Madrid, medical age assessments show that many who claimed to be minors were in fact adults\u2014and similar patterns are evident across Europe. At the same time, the debate over \u201dteen deportations\u201d is raging in Sweden, where many who were once described as \u201dchildren\u201d are turning out to be over 20 years old. The argument that \u201dthese are children, after all\u201d is being increasingly disproved.<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Spanish Public Prosecutor's Office's annual report <\/a><\/strong>The 2024 report is the latest in a series of European documents showing that a large proportion of those who claim to be unaccompanied minors are, in fact, adults. In Madrid, 70 percent of those who underwent medical age assessments were determined to be over 18 years of age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madrid: 266 of 378 adults tested<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Of the 378 people in Madrid who underwent a full age assessment (primarily wrist X-rays), 266 were determined to be adults and only 112 were minors. This represents a threefold increase in detected cases compared to the previous year. Nationwide in Spain, 7,562 age determination cases were opened in 2024. Of these, 2,457 individuals were determined to be adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figures come from the official Report of the Office of the Attorney General 2025<\/a><\/strong> and the regional report from the Madrid Prosecutor's Office. These are not isolated exceptions; they are the result of systematic inspections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same pattern in several European countries<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Spain is far from alone. In Sweden, medical age assessments conducted by the National Board of Forensic Medicine as early as 2017 showed that about three out of four of those examined were assessed as likely to be over 18 years of age. The government investigation SOU 2021:84<\/a><\/strong> confirmed that the methods have uncertainties, but also that they are used precisely to assess the likelihood that a person is an adult\u2014and that the results often point in that direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the United Kingdom, several audits <\/a><\/strong>It has been shown that hundreds of people who were initially admitted as children were later found to be adults, with serious consequences for both housing and the rule of law. The same pattern is evident in Italy and other countries experiencing large-scale arrivals: a significant proportion of those claiming child status are found to be adults upon verification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The connection to Swedish \u201dteen deportations\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The report comes at the height of the Swedish debate over the so-called \u201dthe deportations of teenagers<\/a><\/strong>\u201d. These cases often involve people who were described as \u201dchildren\u201d or \u201dteenagers\u201d when they arrived in Sweden, but who are in fact over 20 years old at the time of their deportation. Many have lived in Sweden for several years, but the age information provided upon arrival does not hold up when the authorities review their cases as adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who want to increase immigration to Sweden and Europe consistently use the \u201dchildren\u201d argument to defend their policies. They speak of vulnerable children fleeing war and persecution. Critics who question the age claims or call for stricter controls are portrayed as heartless or as \u201dpersecuting\u201d children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \"children\" argument doesn't hold water<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

There are now clear statistics showing that this narrative is incorrect. When authorities actually conduct age assessments\u2014as in Madrid, in Sweden in 2017, and elsewhere in Europe\u2014it turns out time and again that a majority of those tested are not children. Many are adult men in their 20s or older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This undermines the rhetoric that claims these are innocent children whom Sweden and Europe have a moral obligation to accept without question. The reality is that a large portion of so-called \u201cchild immigration\u201d consists of adults who are exploiting the special protection afforded to minors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spanish report is not an isolated news story. It is yet another piece of evidence that the \u201dchildren\u201d argument used to justify a generous immigration policy is largely based on inaccurate or exaggerated age claims. Those who want more immigration must address this reality instead of continuing to blame \u201cpersecution\u201d by critics.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shocking figures reveal how many \u201dunaccompanied refugee children\u201d were actually adults. Now the migrant activists\u2019 \u201cchildren\u201d argument is being torn to shreds\u2014even in Sweden<\/p>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":120573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[207,1520,206,205],"tags":[808,286,185],"class_list":["post-173824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-utrikes","category-stor","category-inrikes","category-nyheter","tag-spanien","tag-sverige"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}