How the EU deported 42,000 Albanians within a Year

The European Union turned back 42 thousand and 600 illegal immigrants from Albania over the past year. The news has made the European Institute of Statistics public, which reported that Albanians top the list of returns from EU countries by a large margin from other countries.

According to Eurostat, European Union countries ordered the return of 226 thousand illegal immigrants to total during 2016. This is the highest number since 2008, when Eurostat started publishing the statistics on immigrants' exits and every one in five returns was Albanian.

After Albanians, immigrants from Ukraine rank in second place with 22 thousand and 600 returnees. Iraq holds third place with 17 thousand and 100 repatriated immigrants, while another Albanian state is ranked in fourth place, Kosovo with over 13 thousand repatriations, writes TCh.

Official data shows that Albanians continue to emigrate at a high rate to European Union countries. According to Eurostat, in just the last three years 2014-2016, over 118,000 illegal immigrants from Albania have entered the EU countries.

The vast majority of them -- 101 thousand people -- have been returned by force, respectively, a process that continues even during 2017.