Arteja loves Liverpool, supports Everton and has become a key member of the community – but now faces being sent back into the hands of those who exploited her
Arteja Folla has made Merseyside her home but has now been detained and is set to be deported to her native Albania, where she was trafficked by criminal gangs
A woman who was trafficked into England and forced by criminal gangs to grow cannabis in a house for a year says she has found a new home that she loves in Merseyside but is now under threat of being deported back to danger.
Arteja Folla was detained by immigration officials in Liverpool at the start of October and is currently being held in Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre in the north east. This week a plan to move her to Yarl’s Wood removal centre in Bedfordshire before putting her on a flight back to her native Albania was disrupted by campaigners alongside ongoing legal efforts to stop her deportation.
Arteja is 47 and first came to the UK in 2019 on the promise of a better life, a job and a visa. However those who arranged her entry into the UK turned out to be a human trafficking gang who would go on to exploit her and force her to live in fear.
Speaking from Derwentside, she told the ECHO: “They recruit you in Albania and they promise to take you to the UK and to find you a job and get you a visa. But when I got here I was taken from house to house and then to a house in Coventry where they kept me for a year and forced me to grow cannabis.
“They tell you that if you don’t do what they say, they will kill you and your whole family, They say ‘we know everything about you’ and they follow you if you ever leave the house.”
“I thank god every day that the police broke into that house and saved me. I want to give back to the country that saved me from them.”
After she was freed from the clutches of the gang, Arteja was taken to Liverpool where she lived in a safe house organised by the Salvation Army for several years. She then moved into Home Office accommodation in Liverpool as she applied for asylum to remain here.
Arteja Folla has lived in Merseyside for the past four years but has now been detained and is set to be deported to her native Albania, where she was trafficked by criminal gangs
She says she has fallen in love with Liverpool, Merseyside and the people here and has become strongly involved in community groups and with organisations who help other asylum seekers and refugees.
Arteja has also become involved with Everton in the Community, the Blues’ charity, taking part in Walking Football and Girls On Side – a women’s mental health wellbeing programme, which has helped her to deal with the huge amount of trauma she has faced in her life.
She said: “Liverpool is my home now, I met my new family here. The people are so friendly. At first I didn’t understand the accent, but when I started to understand it – I realised how everyone is friendly. They all call me ‘love.’
She added: “I am an Everton fan now. They are the the people’s club, like my team in Tirana in Albania. They both play in blue.”
The sense of family that Arteja has found in Merseyside is even more important for her as both her mother and father died while she has been in the UK and was unable to get home to see them. Her only family in her home country is her brother, who she says would be at risk if she is sent back.
This is now a very real worry after Arteja was detained on October 1 when completing a regular check in at the Home Office building in Liverpool city centre. Her application for asylum had been turned down a week earlier.
She has been in Derwentside ever since, facing the threat of imminent deportation, which she says would place her back into the hands of the gangs who exploited her in the first place.
Speaking about conditions at the detention centre, she explained: “It’s not good. The food is undercooked and small portions, there is a lot of noise so it is very difficult to sleep. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.”
Arteja is being supported in her fight against deportation by a number of organisations, including Right to Remain. The group and others are raising funds for further legal representation. You can view their campaign page and petition here.
For Arteja, who became emotional during her call with the ECHO from Derwentside, if she is sent back to Albania it will put her and her remaining family in huge danger. She says she wants to build her future here in Liverpool where she has made friends and become a valued member of different communities.
She added: “I want to fight to stay here, Albania doesn’t feel like home anymore, this is my home and I want to live my life and feel safe here. I can’t imagine not being in Liverpool.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “It is our longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases.”