Albanian migrant flights will increase under new laws to fix crisis

The number of flights deporting illegal migrants back to Albania will be stepped up each week in 2023 under plans to resolve Britain’s migrant crisis.

Rishi Sunak is planning to introduce legislation by the end of February to make it easier to deport migrants who reached the UK illegally, including in small boats crossing the Channel.

Downing Street sources said the issue was the Prime Minister’s top priority after tackling the cost of living crisis, and that speeding up deportations would reduce the backlog of asylum claimants clogging up the UK’s immigration system.

Under a deal with the Albanian government, the UK can return illegal migrants by air if they are caught on arrival in Britain.

Hope flights will deter crossings

Ministers hope the flights will deter migrants from making the dangerous journey across the Channel, only to be returned to their home country.

Legislation had originally been planned for later this month, but a new deadline has been set amid concerns any new laws on deportations could be challenged on human rights grounds.

Illegal immigration has presented a legal minefield to ministers, who have been challenged in the High Court over the Government’s policy to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda for processing.

Mr Sunak hopes the new law will raise the threshold required to block a deportation and reduce the influence of human rights case law on each claim.

PM under pressure to speed up law

Tory MPs including Suella Braverman, the Homer Secretary, have urged him to instruct judges to ignore precedent from the European Court of Human Rights when considering deportations.

The Government is also launching a new “Small Boats Operational Command” that will attempt to reduce the number of boats crossing to the UK illegally.

Control of the operation has been returned to the Home Office, after months of rescues managed by the Royal Navy.

Mr Sunak faces pressure from his party to speed up the legislation on deportations, but government sources said the “finer details” are still being worked out after several meetings over the Christmas break.

Government lawyers have been asked to advise on how likely the bill is to be challenged in the courts, after legal objections from human rights organisations grounded the first Rwanda flight and paused the policy altogether.

The Home Office is also planning to hire 1,200 more caseworkers to process asylum applications in an attempt to clear the backlog of claims by the end of this year, while migrants will no longer be housed in expensive hotels that were previously costing the taxpayer £5.6 million a day.

Instead, disused holiday parks, former student halls and surplus military land will be used to house up to 10,000 people who have arrived in the UK illegally.