Number of Albanians in migrant crossings ‘increased substantially’ – report
Fewer than 1,000 Albanian offenders have been deported from the UK since a removals agreement was signed last year.
The number of Albanians arriving in the UK on migrant boats crossing the Channel has increased “substantially” over the last few months, the Home Office said.
Some 2,165 were recorded as arriving between January and June 2022, compared with just 23 detected in the same period the previous year, according to a report published on Thursday.
It comes as Home Secretary Priti Patel struck a deal with the Albanian government to step-up police activity and fast-track removals in a bid to tackle crossings.
“The number of Albanians arriving on small boats has increased substantially over the last quarter. Prior to this point, Albanians were not commonly detected on small boats”, the findings said.
Albanian police could be brought to the UK to observe migrant arrivals and pass on intelligence as part of the agreement between Ms Patel and Bledi Çuçi, Albania’s minister for interior affairs.
The pair have also pledged to speed up removals of Albanians with no right to be in the UK from next week.
Fewer than 1,000 Albanian offenders have been deported from the UK since a removals agreement was signed last year.
Meanwhile, adverts in Albanian will appear on Facebook and Instagram to target people in northern France and Belgium and those “who meet certain criteria, such as being away from home”.
Lucy Moreton, from the ISU union which represents Border Force officers, told the PA news agency: “Members report the working hypothesis that the recent increases in Albanians is to replace those who have been arrested, imprisoned and/or deported as a result of increased police activity in the organised crime sphere.
“This is a hypothesis only, but does make sense.”
Since January 2018, Iranian (28%) and Iraqi (20%) nationals have represented nearly half of all small boat arrivals, according to the Home Office report.
Iranians represented the majority of small boat arrivals in 2018 (80%) and 2019 (66%), but since 2020 a “greater mix of nationalities have been detected making the crossing”, with “Albanian and Afghan nationals becoming notably more common in 2022”.
There were 2,066 arrivals between January and June 2022, compared to just 247 in January to June 2021. There were 1,437 Afghan arrivals in the whole of 2021, 494 in 2020, 69 in 2019 and 3 in 2018, the figures showed.
The Home Office said Albania is a “safe and prosperous country” and many nationals “are travelling through multiple countries to make the journey to the UK” before making “spurious asylum claims when they arrive”.
More than 23,300 people have arrived in the UK after navigating busy shipping lanes from France in small boats such as dinghies so far in 2022, according to provisional government figures.
