Suddenly, it was all the Albanians’ fault. That’s what the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, suggested when under scrutiny over Channel crossings and the asylum seeker backlog in the House of Commons on Wednesday 2 November. She referred to “Albanian criminals” and told MPs that young, single men from Albania were “either part of organised criminal gangs and procuring their journey through… nefarious means, or they are coming here and partaking in criminal activity, particularly related to drugs – supply and otherwise.”
Dan O’Mahoney, the Home Office’s clandestine Channel threat commander, recently erroneously told MPs “between 1 and 2 per cent of the entire male population of Albania” had crossed to the UK this year (he later clarified that the percentage related to the population of men aged 20-40 – about 10,000 people).
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