All immigrants are fingerprinted and photographed by Border Patrol upon arrival. “This biometric data will allow the police to identify any Albanian who is wanted by the Albanian police or has a criminal background,” said a source. “They will have two laptops with all the systems and data available to the Albanian police.” It is modeled on a similar deal Albania struck with France, where it stationed police officers in five French cities to help fight Albanian organized crime gangs. A Border Force source said: “This access would help us enormously, assuming there are no data protection or legal issues that would prevent the Albanian police from receiving biographical and biometric data recorded by the UK Border Force under the UK law to check with its own records. “It will not only allow us to identify who they are, but also whether there are known criminals among them. However, there may be a risk in sharing information about asylum seekers with the government of the country from which they claim to fear persecution – at least before the claim is assessed.”
An agreement was reached on the removal of illegal Albanian immigrants
The move is part of a wider deal to remove criminals and illegal immigrants in Albania, which Priti Patel, the home secretary, struck last summer. As part of the deal, the UK spent £1 million on a new police station at Rina International Airport in Tirana to help process returnees. A delegation of four officers from the forensic laboratories of the Albanian state police are also due to meet Home Office officials on Tuesday to discuss British funding to boost their capacity for DNA analysis and data processing. Any migrant who has served more than a year in prison can be barred and removed from the UK under post-Brexit laws introduced in 2020. The government also has the power to refuse entry on grounds of “serious harm, persistent infringement or when this favors the public good”. The Home Office also uses immigration law to declare asylum claims from Albania “unfounded” because “there is no serious risk of persecution”. Immigrants have no right of appeal and can be removed within 30 days. “Those coming from Albania – a safe and prosperous country – travel through many countries to make the journey to the UK. Many then make false asylum claims when they arrive,” a spokesman said. “Through the Nationality and Borders Act, introduced by the Home Secretary, asylum claims can be inadmissible if someone travels through a safe third country before arriving in the UK.”
