MADAM,

Few could deny the caring attitude of Monmouth residents regarding the current migrant situation, but it seems somewhat naïve of readers to insinuate that David Davies MP for Monmouthshire is a lone voice in his comments on the subject.

What has recently surfaced in the media about adults posing as children is not news. It seems to have been going on for some time. It was several months ago I reported to our MP that my niece who is a teacher of 13 to 14 year olds had a migrant introduced to her class who was clearly in his late 20s. She had told me that teachers were becoming increasingly worried about this. We must remember that teachers are subject to CRB checks as are any adults working in schools regardless of their ethnic origin. However, how do parents feel about an adult of perhaps unknown origin sitting in a class of their 13 to 14-year-old children who has not been checked because it would be unwelcoming to do so?

It is most likely that members of the public in their attempt to do good have put pressure on politicians who in turn have put pressure on immigration officials to speed up their processing of migrants and that corners are likely to have been cut to meet targets. Consider that for every mistaken identity, a genuine child may be left behind. If we have agreed to accept a quota of ‘unaccompanied children’ the officials must be allowed time to conduct checks that the migrants are ‘unaccompanied’ and that they are indeed ‘children’. Dental checks to see if wisdom teeth are visible or any other form of medical to identify as near as possible whether a person is an adult or child is not going to be anywhere near as unpleasant as the traumatic experiences the migrants have encountered in war-torn zones. If we voice objections to this practice, it rather equates to us saying we all feel intimidated every time we visit our dentist or our GP.

Since contacting David Davies about my niece’s experiences and those of her colleagues his response was that he had received several such reports. Therefore, those people who think he does not represent his constituents’ views in this matter or that he should join UKIP should think again.

Angela Hoyle

(Monmouth)