FEARFUL Adelaide schoolchildren have been reported missing after their friends were taken into immigration detention, sources have told The Advertiser.

Two Vietnamese asylum seekers who were living in the community in Adelaide’s northern suburbs and attending a local high school, have been picked up and sent to a detention centre by the Immigration Department.

It is understood that the two teenagers were in Year 10 or 11, and may have been taken to Inverbrackie or another detention centre in Western Australia after living in residential housing for more than a year.

The Advertiser has been told that their detention resulted in up to seven frightened children — aged 8-18 and also living in the community — running away from their homes because they feared a similar fate. Sources said all the children were considered to be settled, A-grade students.

“(Immigration Minister Scott Morrison) revoked the residence determination of two people who were in community detention,” a department spokesman said.

“The minister is aware of reports that people in community detention have been reported as missing, however it is too early at this point to confirm whether the persons have absconded.”

The news comes the day after a Vietnamese refugee was named as the state’s Governor. Hieu Van Le arrived in Australia by boat in 1977 after fleeing Vietnam, arriving with “an invisible suitcase filled with dreams”. His Excellency has declined to comment on current political issues.

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul last night said the news came as a boat with 153 asylum seekers, including 37 children, headed for Christmas Island.

The minister can approve community detention for detainees, where unaccompanied minors are looked after by service providers in housing provided by the Government.

Greens Immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said the Government should be caring for children and “not stealing them away”, and that Mr Morrison should explain why they were taken into mainstream detention.

“I am extremely concerned to hear that a number of other children have now run away and are missing because they are scared of being locked away in detention,” she said.

“These children have already endured extreme trauma and distress; the last thing they need is to be condemned to a life of fear in the country they came to for help.”

Mr Rintoul said the Government had free reign to pull people out of community detention and put them in mainstream detention.

They could have been taken to Inverbrackie in the Adelaide Hills or to Yongah Hill detention centre, north of Perth, he said.

“They’re at the whim of the department,” he said.

“The fact they were snatched out of school is an indication of how (the Department) operates with no concern for the kids involved.

“It’s a general phenomenon at the moment. The department is cancelling visas, bringing people in, sending people back. There is general fear in the community.”

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