Politicising safety and racialised and gendered criminalisation: Political agenda-setting and the case of Albanian asylum-seekers in the UK

How the UK government has politicised asylum by categorising Albanian asylum-seekers as ‘criminals’ and Albania as a ‘safe’ country to advance an immigration deterrence agenda remains unresearched. We use agenda-setting and policy framing analytical insights to explain how and why UK government’s successful agenda-setting was underpinned by the racialised and gendered criminalisation of Albanian males and the politicisation of the safety conditions in Albania. Our findings draw on qualitative empirical data, alongside triangulation with official and stakeholder data and documents. We argue that the racialised and gendered criminalisation of Albanian males – as evidenced by political rhetoric and the media – was integral to the targeted legal and political measures making Albania a ‘safe’ country. Nonetheless, we show that these framings misrepresent the reality in Albania and the challenges that vulnerable Albanians face when seeking protection in the United Kingdom.