Home Office starts ad campaign to deter Albanian migrants

The Home Office is launching an advertisement run targeting Albanian nationals to deter them from migrating to the UK.

The adverts, which volition tally successful Albanian connected Facebook and Instagram, volition pass that radical volition "face being detained and removed" if they marque the journey.

The authorities said the campaign, starting adjacent week, would "make wide the perils" migrants connected tiny boats face.

Labour said the determination "beggars belief", and the asylum strategy was "in chaos".

According to the Home Office, Albania is simply a "safe and prosperous country" and galore nationals "are travelling done aggregate countries to marque the travel to the UK" earlier making "spurious asylum claims erstwhile they arrive".

The run follows a akin societal media thrust launched by the authorities successful August past year.

Immigration curate Robert Jenrick said the run would "work proactively astatine the root earlier radical acceptable disconnected connected unsafe and unnecessary journeys".

Albania was the astir communal nationality applying for asylum successful the UK successful the twelvemonth to March 2023, with 13,714 applications by Albanian citizens.

Mr Jenrick said: "We are determined to halt the boats and the campaign, launching successful Albania this week, is conscionable 1 constituent of the Home Office's enactment upstream to assistance dispel myths astir amerciable question to the UK, explicate the realities and combat the lies peddled by evil people-smugglers who nett from this vile trade."

The authorities would not accidental however overmuch the publicity thrust is expected to cost.

Tim Naor Hilton, main enforcement of Refugee Action, called the run "pointless" and said it "repeats the story that exile migration is illegal".

He said: "This is yet different pointless run that shows ministers garbage to recognize that a tiny number of the world's refugees person precise almighty reasons to travel here.

"If the Government wanted to smash the smuggling gangs and halt radical crossing the Channel successful flimsy boats it would make much harmless routes for refugees to question present to assertion asylum."

Chief enforcement of exile foundation Care4Calais Steve Smith said "no magnitude of taxpayer-funded PR spin" volition deter refugees "from seeking a harmless future".

"Refugees person experienced immoderate of the worst things imaginable from warfare and struggle to torture and quality rights abuses.

"The lone solution that volition enactment radical smugglers retired of business, halt tiny vessel crossings and prevention lives is to connection harmless transition to refugees with a viable asylum assertion successful the UK."

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "It beggars content that arsenic Channel crossings proceed to emergence and the asylum strategy is successful chaos, each the Conservatives tin travel up with to halt the transgression gangs is an advertisement campaign.

"At each turn, the Tories alleged solutions neglect to conscionable the standard of the crisis. All they are doing is tinkering astatine the edges."

The run follows the government's Illegal Migration Bill, which aims to nonstop asylum seekers who get successful Britain via unauthorised routes backmost location oregon to a 3rd state specified arsenic Rwanda.

Ministers besides anticipation the authorities volition chopped the regular £5.5m outgo of lodging migrants who marque it to the UK.

The Bill, presently successful the House of Lords, has faced backlash from nationalist figures and campaigners including the Archbishop of Canterbury, who reason that it is some unworkable and "morally unacceptable".