The Secretary of State for Immigration, Robert Jenrick, who is traveling to the region on Monday, explained to ‘The Times’ newspaper that he is looking for close cooperation between the National Crime Service (NCA) and North African security forces. British agents will share technology and intelligence with their partners to dismantle gangs that organize the transport of migrants to Europe.

Jenrick reminded the newspaper of the agreement Rishi Sunak’s government has reached with France, Italy and Albania to reduce the arrival of immigrants and refugees through irregular channels. He pointed out that the initiative aims to attack the root of the problem, the existence of gangs that organize “dangerous and unnecessary travel, long before migrants arrive in the UK”.

The Secretary of State will meet later in Rome with the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who has established good relations with Sunak. The position of the Italian leader is that the issue of mass immigration is international and that the G7 should include immigration policy among the top items on its agenda.

Jenrick will finally meet his French counterpart. The two governments struck a cooperation agreement in March to reduce the transport of immigrants across the English Channel. While it is too early to gauge the success or failure of these initiatives or the effectiveness of the new Ship Operations Command, which coordinates the navy and civilian forces, the figures point to a waning in the first half of this year.

According to data from the Ministry of Home Affairs, from the beginning of 2023 until last week, 7,297 immigrants were detected being transported by rubber boats. Throughout 2022, this number will increase to 45,755, which will be present in larger numbers in August, September and October. This represents a 60% increase with respect to illegal immigrants detected in 2021.

Albanian precedent

The important fact is that in the first quarter of this year the arrival of Albanians has reduced drastically, according to data from the Emigration Observatory, an entity of the University of Oxford. Sunak and his Tirana counterpart, Edi Rama, strike a deal to expedite the expulsion of the Albanians which will have the effect London wants. The UK ministry maintains a campaign on social networks to prevent them from traveling to the island.

The government hopes that in the next few days the Court of Appeal will uphold the Superior’s ruling declaring the law allowing the expulsion of asylum seekers who come irregularly to Rwanda. The bill has moved slowly in Parliament, but the controversial Interior Minister, Suella Braverman, is confident that an extradition program will be implemented soon.

The arrival of more than 600,000 legal immigrants in 2022 offers a perspective on the irregulars. The number of refugees from Ukraine and Hong Kong is lagging behind historical records. The figure may fall in 2023. But the post-Brexit immigration system has not solved the problem of labor shortages in many sectors. In 2016, half of Britons believed immigration was one of their most important issues. Now the figure is reduced to 15%.