London-Tirana cooperation to deport migrants crossing the English Channel

The British government said today it will work with Albania to repatriate scores of Albanians crossing the English Channel in small boats, as migration flows have increased despite a controversial deportation plan in Rwanda.

The number of irregular migrants arriving in Britain by small boats hit a record high over a 24-hour period on Monday.

Almost 40% of irregular migrants who arrived in Britain in a six-week period – from June to July – were from Albania, the Mail on Sunday newspaper recently reported citing leaked figures. New official figures on migration flows are expected to be released later today.

According to Home Secretary Priti Patel, unscrupulous traffickers and gangs are hoarding at the expense of many Albanians and forcing them onto junk ships to take them to Britain. Patel announced that the repatriation of the Albanians will be accelerated from next week. “Thanks to our excellent levels of cooperation with Albania, we will take every opportunity to speed up the removal of Albanians who have no right to be in the UK,” he said.

Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hoped the threat to deport migrants to Rwanda, announced in April, would deter those aspiring to cross the Channel in small boats. However, migration flows in the first eight months of the year are almost twice as much as the corresponding ones last year.

Meanwhile, the British plan to deport migrants to Rwanda has been “frozen” due to appeals to the Court. Human rights organizations argue that the plan is unworkable and unethical. The first scheduled deportation flight, last June, was canceled following an intervention by the European Court of Human Rights.

The two candidates to succeed Boris Johnson as Prime Minister of Britain, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, have pledged to implement the plan to deport immigrants to Rwanda.

RES-EMP

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