Priti Patel signs deal with Albania to speed up deportation of crooks who were born there but moved to Britain
Criminals as well as those who fail to be granted asylum from Albania will face a more rapid return to their home country under a post-Brexit deal secured by Priti Patel last night.
The agreement, signed by the Home Secretary with the eastern European country, will make it easier to remove convicted offenders.
It will also make it simpler to move failed Albanian asylum seekers and those who have overstayed their visas.
The deal – finalised by Miss Patel during an official visit to the capital of Albania, Tirana – will make the process of transferring Albanian criminals and those in conflict with their immigration status ‘easier and quicker’
The bilateral agreement with the nation will be seen as a major breakthrough after Brexit and could pave the way for similar deals with EU nations such as Poland.
The deal – finalised by Miss Patel during an official visit to the capital of Albania, Tirana – will make the process of transferring Albanian criminals and those in conflict with their immigration status ‘easier and quicker’, Home Office sources said last night.
The new deal comes amid growing concern over the number of foreign nationals in prison in England and Wales. One in eight inmates are now non-UK citizens, or 9,850 of the 78,000 behind bars.
The new agreement was signed by the Home Secretary and Albanian minister of interior Bledar Cuci.
Officials said it would ‘strengthen the existing arrangements the UK has to remove Albanian nationals who have no right to be in the UK’.
Miss Patel said: ‘I am determined to fix our immigration system, clamp down on illegal entry, and remove those with no right to be in UK as swiftly as possible.
Pictured, a gang of Albanian drug dealers are taunting cops by posting pictures of drug money and flash cars to a public Instagram page
‘Our New Plan for Immigration, coupled with this new agreement, will speed up the removal of Albanian nationals who have committed crimes in the UK and overstayed their welcome.
‘I make no apology for removing dangerous foreign criminals to protect the British people and, so far this year, more than 1,000 foreign criminals have been deported, with more being removed every single week.’
During a two-day trip to Albania the Home Secretary also met Prime Minister Edi Rama and discussed joint efforts to tackle serious organised crime, including drug trafficking and immigration crime.