'Hundreds' of migrants have so far been returned to Albania under the government's 'gold-standard' deal with the country, says immigration minister Robert Jenrick
The Home Office minister clarified:"Well, there are hundreds of Albanians who've arrived who have been placed on those flights."
The government announced in April that"over 1,000" Albanian nationals have been returned since December - but this included"failed asylum seekers, foreign national offenders and voluntary returns".Mr Jenrick earlier described the deal as a"gold-standard" agreement which is seeing"thousands of Albanian illegal migrants returned home and the numbers crossing from that country significantly reducing".
In December last year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, agreed to"enhance cooperation" in three areas -"security issues and home affairs ; economic growth and investment; innovation, youth and education".Top nationalities arriving via small boats, as a percentage of total small boat arrivals 2018 to 2022. Pic: Home Office
This included setting up a"joint migration task force" between the two countries to"manage illegal migration of Albanian citizens to the UK"." following the language used by ministers like Home Secretary Suella Braverman when it came to migrants - after she spoke of an"invasion" of asylum seekers.Mr Sunak has made"stop the boats" one of his five pledges to the British people this year.
And Mr Jenrick claimed that a"landmark" deal agreed with France has seen a"big increase in the number of interceptions" of small boats - with 33,000 migrants prevented from crossing.
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