Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told on Monday how tougher action is to be taken to stop migrants who throw away their passport being able to avoid deportation.
She stressed that the Home Office is looking to build up a “fast track” system to dealing with asylum claims.
The Government is also “watching closely” a scheme where migrant people heading to Italy across the Mediterranean will have their cases processed under the country’s system but in Albania.
Under the agreement, some 36,000 people a year, who are deemed to be trying to reach Italy from “safe” countries, are expected to be taken to the Albanian port of Shengjin, 45 miles south of the country’s capital, Tirana.
They will have their asylum cases swiftly processed there and if successful will be able to go to Italy.
But the vast majority are expected to have their applications rejected as they come from countries regarded as safe including Egypt, Bangladesh, Ivory Coast and Tunisia.
“There is the Italy-Albania arrangement that is a new arrangement that is being put in place,” Ms Cooper told BBC radio.
“We obviously watch that closely.”
She added: “We are looking to develop a fast-track system within the UK.
“If you have got people arriving from safer countries, we should be able to speed up those decisions and speed up returns.
“We have had a 23 per cent increase in enforced returns for failed asylum cases over the summer.”
Pressed on what action could be taken against individuals who have thrown away their passport to hide their country of origin, the Home Secretary stressed: “We have since the election substantially increased the resources for returns and enforcement.
“There will be all kinds of evidence around people’s identify, it’s not just dependent on the particular passport people have.
“We develop as part of returns arrangements with other countries, agreements and arrangements for being able to identify people even if they don’t have passport.
“That has been done in the past, continues to be done, and we believe that work can be expanded as well.”
The Home Secretary, though, would not commit to specific targets on bringing down Channel crossings, and there is little sign that the Government’s new approach, after the Tories’ failed Rwanda deportation scheme, is having any more success in dealing with the “small boats” crisis.
Ms Cooper said high numbers of crossings in October were “linked to the weather” but that “we’ve actually got to go after the criminal gangs at the heart of this, rather than it simply being dependent on the weather”.
At the Interpol General Assembly in Glasgow, Sir Keir Starmer announced a doubling of funding to £150 million for the Border Security Command.
The money will be used to fund high-tech surveillance equipment and 100 specialist investigators who will target criminals engaged in people smuggling.
