Over half of boat migrants referred to the programme for victims of modern slavery — a potential “loophole” to avoid deportation — hail from Albania, a report from Migration Watch UK has claimed.

Freedom of Information Act (FOI/FOIA) requests lodged by the Migration Watch UK think tank have uncovered that 51.1 per cent of all boat migrants that were referred to the scheme for potential victims of modern slavery came from Albania in the first half of 2022, when illegal migration from the Muslim majority Balkan nation surged.

The number of Albanians recorded in the National Referral Mechanism was more than double that of 2021 — yet the anti-open borders think tank estimated that less than half of the small boat modern slavery (SBMS) referrals were judged worthy claims.

When 2022 figures are finally released, Migration Watch predicts that at least 2,300 people who illegally crossed the English Channel will have either claimed to have been a victim of modern slavery or were referred to the programme by another.

Migration Watch noted that this may be an underestimate given the large number of Albanians that illegally landed on British shores between May and September, however.

In comments provided to Breitbart London, Alp Mehmet, the chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: “What these remarkable data show is that Albanians and their traffickers have identified a huge loophole in our legislation and are exploiting it to the hilt.

“Their gaming of the system is adding massively to the great pressure that the already overwhelmed system is under. The government has no option but to plug this gaping hole, and do it quickly.”

The reality that Albanians are seemingly falsely trying to take advantage of the modern slavery scheme has not only been pointed out by Migration Watch.

Indeed, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that clamping down on such false claims from Albania will be a central theme of his government’s plans to tackle illegal boat migration, which saw a record 45,000 migrants cross the English Channel last year alone.

Sunak said in December that the government will be “significantly” raising the threshold for asylum seeking boat migrants setting off from the beaches of France — a safe European Union member-state — to claim that they are victims of modern slavery.

“As a result of these changes the vast majority of claims from Albania can simply be declared clearly unfounded and those individuals can be swiftly returned,” the PM claimed, adding that guidance will be issued to asylum caseworkers to “make it crystal clear” that Albania is a safe country and therefore they should be sceptical of claims of modern slavery.

Albania’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Qirjako Qirko has also admitted that some of his countrymen are “pretending” to be victims of modern slavery in order to increase their odds of being granted asylum and receiving better treatment.

In a House of Commons hearing with the ambassador, Conservative MP Lee Anderson suggested that the reason why so many Albanians pay people-smugglers thousands of pounds to cross into Britain illegally rather than buying a cheap aeroplane ticket is that it allows them to enter the country and apply for asylum without needing a passport, thereby obscuring their identity and any possible criminal history.

This has been a longstanding practice of illegal migrants, as it makes it much harder for them to be deported because their native countries will be less likely to accept their return without proof of citizenship and identity.

Albanian migrants involved in the drugs black market, such as cannabis “gardeners”, have previously been accused by law enforcement of using the National Referral Mechanism for modern slavery to avoid jail time in Britain once apprehended by the police.

Instead of being put behind bars, those who are accepted by the scheme are put up in publicly-funded housing meant for genuine victims of human trafficking.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka