The young people were deported after they turned 18, after years in the UK. Many of those were going to schools in Britain and had no link to their homelands.
According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, some of the Afghani repatriates reported that they were chased, kidnapped, ransomed or abused by the Taliban after returning to Afghanistan.
Louise Haigh, a Labour Party member, called the figures “shocking,” and called on the government to address the “shameful” practice.
"Children who flee countries ravaged by war in the most appalling of circumstances are granted safe haven and build a life here in the UK, but at the age of 18 can be forced onto a charter flight and back to a dangerous country they have no links to and barely any memory of,” she stated.
Timothy Farron, leader of the UK Liberal Democrats, said that many of those children, now teenagers, had clearly ‘integrated’ into British society before the government banished them.
Deportations have been suspended in light of the revelations, but the Home Office has insisted, in an ongoing court of appeal case, that the extraditions must continue.
"All applications to remain in the UK are considered on their individual merits, including an applicant's age, the length of time they have spent in the UK, their ability to reintegrate and any compelling or compassionate circumstances," a department spokesperson said.
"How can Ministers claim to protect vulnerable people in the immigration system when they don't even know how many they were supposed to be protecting," he said.
