Italy transfers 40 migrants to Albania

Italian authorities said on Friday they were transferring 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 (EU) country was sending rejected migrants to a nation outside the EU that is neither their own nor a country they had transited on their journey.

Italian media reported the migrants had left the Italian port of Brindisi.

The Italian government has not released their nationalities or further details.

The migrants will be held in Italian-built and run migrant centers located in Shengjin port, 66 km northwest of the capital, Tirana, and in Gjader. They were built to process asylum requests of migrants 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 were returned to Italy.

It is not clear how long the rejected asylum-seekers may stay in Albania.

In Italy they can be detained for up to 18 months pending deportation.

Italy’s far-right-led government of Premier Giorgia Meloni approved a decree last month that expanded the use of the Albanian fast-track asylum processing centers to include the detention of rejected asylum seekers with deportation orders.

While the announcement was in line with a recent EU Commission proposal that would allow EU countries to set up so-called “return hubs,” the proposal has yet to be fully approved.

Migrant rights organizations and lawyers say it violates the right to seek asylum and sets a dangerous precedent.

Migration experts consulted by The Associated Press say it’s unclear how legal Italy’s actions were and that they would likely be challenged in court.

“They need to show they are doing something with this incredibly expensive structure,” said Meghan Benton of the Migration Policy Institute.

Speaking from Toulouse, France, 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 nongovernmental organizations and Italian lawmakers visiting Albania to follow the migrant transfer, 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.

Associated Press