Italy sends rejected migrants to detention centres in Albania
Italian authorities transferred 40 migrants with no permission to remain in the country to Italian-run migration detention centres in Albania.
It appeared to be the first time a European Union country has sent rejected migrants to a nation outside the EU that is neither their own nor a country they had transited on their journey.
A military ship with the 40 migrants departed the Italian port of Brindisi and arrived hours later in the Albanian port of Shengjin, where they were to be transferred to the Italian-built and -run centres.
The Italian government has not released the nationalities or further details of the migrants.
The facilities in Shengjin, about 65 kilometres (40 miles) northeast of Tirana, were originally built to process asylum requests of people intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea by Italy. But since their inauguration in October, Italian courts have stopped authorities from using them and small groups of migrants sent there have returned to Italy.
Italy’s far-right-led government of prime minister Giorgia Meloni approved a decree last month that expanded the use of the Albanian fast-track asylum processing centres to include the detention of rejected asylum seekers with deportation orders.
It is not clear how long the rejected asylum-seekers may be held in Albania.
In Italy, they can be detained for up to 18 months pending deportation.
Ms Meloni’s efforts to step up deportations echo US president Donald Trump’s recent deportations of migrants of various nationalities to Panama.
It’s also in line with a recent EU Commission proposal that, if passed, would allow EU members to set up so-called “return hubs” abroad.
Migration experts consulted by The Associated Press say it is unclear how legal Italy’s actions were.
Meghan Benton, of the Migration Policy Institute, said the move likely will be challenged in court.
Speaking from Toulouse, France, Ms Benton said other EU countries are interested in doing the same, including the Netherlands with Uganda.
Francesco Ferri, a migration expert with Action Aid who was among a group of non-governmental organisations and Italian officials visiting Albania to follow the migrant transfer, said it’s unclear what would happen to the migrants once they’re in Albania.
He said there is no legislation in Italian law, nor in EU law, nor in the Albania-Italy agreement that would allow rejected asylum-seekers to be deported directly from Albania, making the purpose of the transfer unclear.
“For us it is unacceptable,” Mr Ferri said.
The Albanian centres opened in October but they remained substantially inactive due to legal hurdles and wide opposition from human rights associations, which believe they violate international laws and put migrants’ rights at risk.
The November 2023 agreement between Italy and Albania – worth nearly 800 million euros (£694 million) over five years — allows up to 3,000 migrants intercepted by the Italian coast guard in international waters each month to be sheltered in Albania and vetted for possible asylum in Italy or repatriation.
Italy has agreed to welcome those migrants who are granted asylum, while those whose applications are rejected face deportation directly from Albania.
The first three groups of 73 migrants transferred there in October, November and January spent only a few hours in Albania and were returned to Italy after Italian magistrates refused to validate their detention in the non-EU country.
So far this year, 11,438 migrants landed on Italian shores, less than the 16,090 who arrived in the same period last year.
Most arrived from Bangladesh, followed by Syria, Tunisia and Egypt, according to the Italian Interior Ministry.
Irregular border crossings were 31% lower across the European Union according to figures released on Friday by the EU’s Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex.
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