13,000 Albanians Breach Bail Conditions

A 30-year-old Albanian national is arrested by National Crime Agency officers in a dawn raid in Surbiton, southwest London, on Oct. 7, 2022. (National Crime Agency)

Over 12,800 Albanians who entered the UK illegally have breached strict immigration bail conditions, Home Office data has revealed.

The figures—released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI)—make up a quarter of all bail breaches by illegal migrants from January 2022 to April this year.

According to government figures, a total of 44,957 people were recorded as breaking immigration bail in Britain within the 15-month period.

Of those numbers, 12,842 were Albanian nationals who reached Britain by small boats crossing the English Channel or other illegal means.

In its FOI response to Albanian news outlet “Top Channel,” the Home Office said it was “important to note” that individuals “who have failed to report once may have reported again in the following weeks.”

It added: “When a person fails to report to a physical reporting event, our first stage is to make telephone contact with the person or if this is unsuccessful, their appropriate adult, legal representative, surety, sponsor or family members in the UK to attempt to establish the reasons for their failure to report and their current whereabouts.

“If no reasonable explanation is given or contact cannot be made with the person, we may notify their case owner of the failure to report, record the failure to report on our systems and monitor future compliance.”

The Home Office said additional actions including detention and financial penalties, may be taken “where a person breached an immigration bail condition.”

‘Albanian Rolex’

The news channel also claimed some Albanians released from immigration detention were being kept under surveillance via electronic tags.

It reported on Sunday that some migrants subject to electronic monitoring were avoiding detection by UK authorities by removing the tags—and brazenly boasting about it on TikTok.

Top Channel claimed the device—usually placed on the ankle of a suspected or convicted offender—has been dubbed the “Albanian Rolex” in a number of videos on the social media app.

The clips—seen by The Epoch Times—show men cutting the tags off with scissors.

It comes as the Home Office launched a social media ad campaign targeting Albanians in their home country in a bid to deter Channel crossings.

The publicity drive, which will run on Facebook and Instagram from next week, will warn people they “face being detained and removed” if they make the journey.

Opposition critics and charities have branded the campaign a “gimmick,” with Labour accusing the government of “tinkering at the edges” of an asylum system “in chaos.”

The Home Office would not say how much the publicity drive will cost.

It follows a similar campaign launched in August last year, when adverts ran in Albanian on Facebook and Instagram to stop people from making the journey.

Record numbers crossed the Channel last year and more than 6,000 have been detected making the journey so far in 2023.

But the number of Albanian small boat arrivals peaked during the summer of 2022 and by early 2023 had dropped below levels seen in 2021, according to government figures.

Speaking on Sunday, immigration minister Robert Jenrick said the campaign, launching in Albania this week, is just “one component” of the Home Office’s work 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.”

An undated image of a group of people thought to be migrants being brought into Dover, Kent. (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Lords Criticise Migration Bill

The ad campaign launches as the government attempts to push its Illegal Migration Bill through the House of Lords.

The bill aims to send asylum seekers who arrive in Britain via unauthorised routes back home or to a third country such as Rwanda.

Ministers also hope the legislation will cut the daily £5.5 million cost of housing migrants who make it to the UK.

Last week the proposed legislation received a rocky ride through the Lords, weeks after being attacked by the Archbishop of Canterbury who argued that it is both unworkable and “morally unacceptable.”

On Wednesday cross-party peers almost unanimously criticised the small boat cutting plans.

Several voiced concern over how the UK would be viewed on the world stage, with one peer stating that Britain faced “humiliation” if the legislation goes through in its current form.

Others argued the bill should be amended to enforce compliance with the UK’s international obligations, such as the European Convention on Human Rights, and other treaties regarding refugees, anti-trafficking, and children’s rights.

However unaffiliated peer Baroness Fox said she believes international agreements “are being used in a particular political way on this issue.”

The former Brexit Party MEP said: “My concern is, how do we avoid ripping up Parliament’s long-standing commitment to UK democracy if international treaties become a barrier to acting at the behest of the electorate? It is true that the UK’s international reputation matters, of course, but I also think the parliamentary reputation matters at home as well to UK citizens.”

The bill is set to go through at least another four committee stages at the House of Lords.