UK’s Sunak vows to clear asylum backlog, return Albanians

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to clear a backlog of asylum-seeker applications. Sunak said on Tuesday he was adding hundreds of workers to process asylum claims and to clear the backlog of more than 143,000 pending applications by the end of 2023. He says the extra staff will also focus on the swift removal of Albanian migrants who have arrived in small boats via the English Channel in increasing numbers. More than 10,000 Albanians have arrived by that route to seek asylum this year, making up nearly a fourth of the record 44,000 people who traversed the waterway on small boats and made it to the U.K.