Albanian migrants arriving in Dover after crossing the Channel face criminal record checks by police officers from their own country, according to reports.
Government sources told The Telegraph that officials from the Home Office would meet senior Albanian officers on Tuesday to agree plans to cross-reference the fingerprints and biometric data of migrants with the Balkan nation’s criminal databases.
The new measures would allow Border Force and immigration enforcement officers to “identify and fast-track” anyone regarded as not “conducive to the public good” because of their criminal background to be deported to Albania, the newspaper reports.
The powers would be used in tandem with legislation introduced in June that allows UK immigration officials to speed up the removal of Albanian asylum seekers whose claims are judged to be “unfounded”.
Gledis Nano, general director of the Albanian state police, is understood to have suggested the deployment of at least two Albanian officers to Dover during a visit in July to meet officials from the National Crime Agency and Home Office.
A source told the newspaper: “This biometric data will enable officers to detect any Albanian wanted by Albanian police or who has a criminal background.
“They will have two laptops with all the systems and data that Albanian police have.”
A Border Force source said: “This access would help us immensely, assuming there are no data protection or legal issues that would prevent the Albanian police from receiving biographic and biometric data captured by UK Border Force under UK law to check against their own records.
“It will not only enable us to identify who they are but also if there are known criminals among them. However, there may be a risk in sharing information about asylum seekers with the government of the country they are claiming to fear persecution from – at least before the claim is assessed.”
It comes after Border Force officials reported that the majority of a record-breaking number of migrants who arrived in the UK this year were from Albania.
The ISU union, which represents staff working for the Home Office’s law enforcement body, said its members had seen an increase in people from the southeast European country making the Channel crossing in the past few months.
Government officials believe around 60 per cent of migrants making the crossing each day now are Albanian, although figures fluctuate.
More than 700 out of the record total of almost 1,300 migrants who were brought ashore on Monday were Albanian, the Daily Mail reported.
