Government sources in Tirana said repeated attempts to get information from the UK about those traveling in the small boats had failed, leaving them operating in the dark. A possible reason for the Home Office not passing on the information is the wording of an agreement signed in 2021 on speedy deportations of those arriving illegally. The agreement is understood to prohibit the sharing of information “if the sharing, use or further disclosure” could mean it was given to those from whom people seek refuge. “We have done everything that was asked of us,” said a source in the Albanian government. “The only thing we have asked our British friends is to give us some information about the 140,000 Albanians living in Britain. Only the UK has route information.’ More than 38,000 migrants have arrived in Britain in small boats across the English Channel so far this year. About 12,000 list themselves as Albanian compared to 800 total last year and 50 in 2020. Dan O’Mahoney, the Channel’s undercover threat commander for the Border Force, told the Commons home affairs committee on Monday that the numbers equated to “1% to 2%” of Albanian men aged between 20 and 40. Albanian government sources expressed frustration at the lack of effective cooperation given concerns over the issue in the British government. Tirana provided Border Force officers to operate in Dover, as requested by the Home Office, and officials screened those flying out of Albania. The source said, however, that the Albanians are using multiple routes, including driving to Kosovo to catch a bus to Germany and a train to France. “They’re not doing anything illegal until they get on the small boats,” the source said. It is further believed that many of the Albanians did not live in Albania but elsewhere in Europe. The Albanian government did not note an increase in departures from the country to match the increase in numbers crossing the Channel. The main frustration in Tirana, however, is the UK government’s failure to implement a deal to speed up deportations of Albanians who arrive illegally in the UK via a safe third country. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The lack of progress on the deal contrasts with similar deals Albania has signed with France and Germany. The number of Albanians seeking asylum in the EU this year was 41% lower than in 2019, before the Covid pandemic. “It’s getting a bit boring hearing over and over again that Albania needs to do more,” the source said. “They would stop coming if they faced the risk of being sent back immediately. It worked in Germany and France.” On Monday, Home Secretary Suella Braverman told the Commons that there had been “some success in removing people back to Albania in a very short period of time, but we need to go further and faster”. But in September the Home Office admitted in a letter to the charity Care4Calais, which had challenged the policy, that they could not speed up the deportation of asylum seekers. The Albanian government is also pushing the UK to provide more effective legal routes for those who want to immigrate. The visa application process was said to be expensive and slow with only a 50/50 chance of admission.
