LONDON: The UK should prevent Albanian migrants from seeking asylum in Britain, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick has said.

Sky News reported that Jenrick, who assumed the ministerial role on Oct. 25 as part of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak鈥檚 Cabinet, said that Albanians should be 鈥渆xcluded from the right to claim asylum.鈥�

He added that Britain should tighten its policy toward the Balkan country because it is a 鈥渄emonstrably safe鈥� place, describing the numbers of Albanians arriving in the UK as 鈥渦nsustainable.鈥�

Albanian nationals made up more than one-third of the 33,000 people who crossed the English Channel in boats from January to September this year.

Amid growing pressure on the government to tackle the migrant crisis, Jenrick said that the Albanian factor was now the 鈥渘umber one priority.鈥� 

He told GB News: 鈥淎lbania is a demonstrably safe country. It is very hard to see how an Albanian should be able to successfully claim asylum here in the UK.

鈥淲e have a returns agreement, which was signed a year ago, and 1,000 Albanians have gone back already. We are looking at what we can do there. We are also pursuing the diplomatic channels.

鈥淲e can鈥檛 have 1 million people entering the country in a single year and net migration of half a million 鈥� it鈥檚 just not sustainable.

鈥淲hat I鈥檓 concerned about is there are people coming to universities here as a backdoor way of bringing their families into the UK and staying here for a prolonged period.

鈥淎 very significant number of people use this as a route to a life in the UK. This is a big driver of net migration.鈥�

PM Sunak and his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama recently discussed efforts to end policies that have led to Britain being unable to efficiently deport failed Albanian asylum seekers.

But the Albanian leader also warned that the UK should avoid blaming Albanians and using migrants as an 鈥渆xcuse鈥� for government failures.