Smugglers have packed them tightly. Every extra person means more cash. There are four or five life jackets for the whole boat. “I was very scared because there weren’t many life jackets,” said the 32-year-old Albanian, showing us the footage filmed last month. “I didn’t think much of it. “We took that risk and most people were scared.” He was on that boat that day after paying Kurdish traffickers €3,500 (£3,000) to take him to the UK. After driving from Albania across Europe to Belgium and then France, he waited at a camp for a signal that it was time to leave. He is one of more than 12,000 Albanians who crossed illegally into England in small boats this year. “When we reached English waters we alerted the English police: ‘We are in danger, can you help us?’ “They came and helped us and took us to shore,” he said. A few days later, he was deported back to Albania, but this story is commonplace. “If I had the chance, I would go to England right now” Travel footage is easy to find on social media, as are smugglers’ advertisements for low-cost crossings. They are tempting offers for many in northeastern Albania, the most deprived corner of one of Europe’s poorest countries. Wages are low, jobs are scarce and people want to escape. Click to subscribe to Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts Alex, whose name has been changed, is among thousands who paid smugglers to bring him to the UK, where he worked illegally for years before being deported. “If I had the chance, I would go to England right now,” he said. “There’s no jobs here, no nothing… and you’ll work for 10 hours for £10, so basically there’s no life here.” It is not an isolated case – most Albanian immigrants come from this region. In one village, the community leader told us that the former population of 2,000 has dwindled to about 400 since the fall of communism. He said some went to the city, but many fled abroad. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 3:00 Albanian PM awaits apology for UK ‘invasion’ “No killing, no drugs” In the nearby town of Kukës, it’s a similar story. People tell us that every family has two or three people living in the UK. Some exist legally, some do not. So why, I wonder, is it such a dream destination? “What I think is that in the UK it’s a good life – no killing, no drugs – that’s my thought,” said a man who called himself David. It’s not his real name – he changed it as he too spent time in the UK illegally. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 2:06 British asylum spending has topped £2bn Instead of paying the smugglers, he said he traveled to France and cut wire around lorry parks before hiding in lorries and crossing England. He worked for five years before being deported. He said he had to go so he could make money to send back to his family. “We all work hard” “Some call you criminals. Are you criminals?”, I ask. “No, no, no, no, absolutely not. I don’t want to hear that. “Who said[s] this is a liar. Albanians are not criminals. Albanians are good people, good culture. We all work hard,” he replied. “But you’re breaking the law to go. You’re going illegally,” I said. “Yes, illegal. But we all do illegal. I told you, for a good life,” he replied. The number of Albanians arriving in small boats has soared from 800 in 2021 to more than 12,000 in 2022. About 10,000 of them were young men – which is about 1% of men of working age, according to Eurostat. Interior Ministry statistics show that an average of 53% of Albanian asylum requests are granted, mostly to women and children. Home Secretary Suella Braverman recently referred to “an influx” of asylum seekers, a comment many believe has done little to solve the problem. Read more: Albanian PM still waiting for UK government apology over Suella Braverman’s ‘invasion’ comments Migrant crisis is an ‘invasion’, says Suella Braverman Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama told me: “I never heard an apology, which makes me think that rather than an exaggerated expression of frustration, this was a calculated attack. “And that’s the most worrying thing. “When you apologize, it’s okay – it happened. “When you don’t do it, and when you avoid it, it means you want something from what is said. So, it means there’s a calculation behind it, it means you’re actually talking to a certain number of voters that you want to hear that. “And you feed them that because you need their votes. But the consequences of that can be devastating for the people, for our people in Britain and for Britain itself.” He said he has repeatedly floated the idea of a joint task force with the UK to help target traffickers. “Albania will not be London, it will not be Paris, it will not be Berlin” But having been prime minister since 2013, I wondered how much responsibility he felt for the feelings of hopelessness driving people abroad. “It is true that you can hear people say that and it is also true that now is a time when there is a lot of bad influence in the world in general because of the war, because of the crisis [after the] pandemic,” he said. “Immediately it’s another situation because the good because, why, why… We know what we have to do. We must do everything to improve the situation here and make it better and better for everyone. “But we also know that whatever we do, Albania will not be London, it will not be Paris, it will not be Berlin.” Read more: Number of migrants identified as minors pushing social workers in Devon to ‘explosion point’ Rotten hotel food’ makes asylum seekers ‘sick’ Dramatic moment of family rescued by Channel Teenager allegedly raped in hotel hosting refugees A UK government spokesman said: “We are seeing large numbers of Albanians risking their lives and making dangerous and unnecessary journeys to the UK – the numbers are increasing and this cannot continue.” “With the cooperation of the Government of Albania, we are taking every opportunity to disrupt the work of organized crime gangs and people smugglers and speed up the removal of Albanians who have no right to be in the UK.” While tens of thousands of Albanians live legally in the UK, more and more are risking their lives at sea. Without renewed hope at home and better cooperation from abroad they will keep coming.
