The Home Office is set to launch an ad campaign aimed at deterring Albanians from crossing the English Channel illegally to reach the UK with the message that people “face being detained and removed” if they make the journey.
The campaign, which starts in Albania next week, will “make clear the perils” illegal immigrants may encounter on small boats.
Adverts in Albanian on Facebook and Instagram were launched last August to try and deter Albanian citizens from making the journey.
It was the most common nationality applying for asylum in the UK in the year to March 2023, with 13,714 applications by Albanian citizens, 9,487 of which came from arrivals on boats crossing the English Channel.
But the UK government sees Albania as a “safe and prosperous country” and the illegal immigrants are “travelling through multiple countries to make the journey to the UK” to make “spurious asylum claims.”
Crackdown ‘At Source’
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said: “Organised immigration crime is a global challenge which requires international solutions the whole way along the migration route.“That includes working proactively at source before people set off on dangerous and unnecessary journeys.
“We are determined to stop the boats and the campaign, launching in Albania this week, is just one component of the Home Office’s work upstream to help dispel myths about illegal travel to the UK, explain the realities, and combat the lies peddled by evil people-smugglers who profit from this vile trade.”
But the opposition Labour Party said the Conservative government’s attempt to tackle illegal immigration has failed “at every turn.”
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “It beggars belief that as Channel crossings continue to rise and the asylum system is in chaos, all the Conservatives can come up with to stop the criminal gangs is an ad campaign.
Safe Country
The government is under intense pressure from Conservative MPs to get to grips with the issue of human traffickers using small boats to ferry illegal immigrants across the English Channel into the UK.The number of Albanian small boat arrivals peaked during the summer of 2022 and by early 2023 had dropped below levels seen in 2021, the Home Office said last week.
Downing Street said there has been a 20 percent decrease in the asylum grant rate for Albanians and there has been “some success” with the UK government’s partnership with the Albanian authorities.
‘Modern Slavery’ Claims
It emerged earlier this year that more than half of the illegal immigrants who claimed to be victims of “modern slavery”—after crossing the English Channel in the first half of 2022—were Albanian.The Home Office made the revelation in response to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests from Migration Watch UK, a campaign group.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch, said illegal immigrants and people traffickers are taking advantage of a “huge loophole” in UK legislation and “gaming” the system.
Under the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), people who claim to have been the victims of trafficking or modern slavery can’t be deported until their claim has been investigated.
According to government figures released in November, 91 percent of Albanian small boat arrivals who claimed to be victims of modern slavery had been allowed to stay in the UK pending a full investigation of their claims by the Home Office.
According to the figures, the average application was taking 561 days to process, during which time the illegal immigrants are offered accommodation, food, legal aid, and counselling.
