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<p>The UK ended the routine detention of families with children in immigration removal
centres in 2010, and enshrined this in law under the Immigration Act 2014. Children
may be detained in family groups for removal in our pre-departure accommodation for
up to 72 hours, extendable to a week with Ministerial approval. This provision is
used sparingly and only after all other avenues have failed. Families with children
may also be detained at the border pending a decision on whether they should be admitted
to the country, or until the next available return flight if they are refused entry
to the UK. There remain limited circumstances where unaccompanied children may be
held under immigration powers at port for up to 24 hours, usually until they can be
transferred into the care of social services.</p><p>Information on the number of children
leaving detention and in the detention estate, is available in tables dt_09_q and
dt_13_q of the detention tables in the latest release of ‘Immigration Statistics,
year ending June 2019’. <br>The term 'deportations' refers to a legally-defined subset
of returns which are enforced either following a criminal conviction or when it is
judged that a person’s removal from the UK is conducive to the public good. Information
on those deported is not separately available and therefore the published detention
statistics refer to all enforced returns and voluntary departures.</p>
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