Italy Sends 8 More Migrants to Albania After First Group Failed Vetting

Eight migrants intercepted by Italian authorities in international waters arrived in Albania to be processed at new facilities on Friday, in just the second transfer of migrants since the two centers began operating in the Balkan country in October.

It's the first program of its kind operated by a European Union nation, which sees arrivals diverted to a separate country while asylum claims are processed.

The Italian navy destroyer Libra docked at the Port of Shengjin, two days after leaving the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, a common landing point for people crossing the Mediterranean from Africa.

Illegal immigration has become a wedge issue across the European Union, prompting many nations to introduce stricter controls and tougher policies, with Italy's fledgling Albanian solution the most high-profile and revolutionary scheme currently underway.

Recently, Poland introduced tighter restrictions on asylum for those entering via its Eastern Border, while Germany recommenced deportations to Afghanistan and Syria following a spate of violent attacks by illegal immigrants.

Outside the auspices of the EU, the UK's previous Conservative government had considered a similar scheme to deport illegal immigrants to Rwanda, but Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the plan after the Labour Party swept to power in July.

Starmer met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in September and said he was taking a "great interest" in Italy's plans.

Last month, Meloni called the Albania scheme an example for the rest of Europe, and Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said 15 other countries on the continent have taken an interest in the operation.

However, despite being heralded by the government in Rome and others in Europe as a solution to stemming the flow of illegal immigrants, the scheme is currently barely allowing a trickle of arrivals into the centers.

Last month, the Libra made its maiden migrant transfer voyage across the Adriatic after the processing centers opened following months of delays, carrying just 16 migrants despite having the capacity for up to 200.

Of those 16 Bangladeshi and Egyptian migrants, four were taken from Albania to Italy on the same day due to health issues or being under the age of 18.

The remaining 12 were also sent to Italy three days later after judges in Rome rejected their detention on the grounds that their countries of origin were too dangerous for them to be returned.

Of the 1,200 migrants that turned up on Lampedusa island over the past two days, just eight male adults traveling without families from "safe" countries meet the scheme's screening criteria.

The number of illegal immigrants reaching Italy along the central Mediterranean migration route in 2024; mainly from Bangladesh, Syria, Tunisia, and Egypt, has fallen by 60 percent since 2023.

Italian Interior Ministry figures show that as of Nov. 7, 57,767 illegal immigrants have arrived by sea in 2024.

The Roman court ruling shortened the list of countries considered "safe" by law, meaning that Italy can repatriate migrants from those countries who didn't win asylum using a fast-track procedure.

The court decided, on the basis of a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice in a case involving the Czech Republic, that countries outside the EU cannot be declared safe unless their entire territory is "free of danger."

Meloni has criticized the ruling, saying that suggesting that countries such as Egypt and Bangladesh are unsafe makes virtually all migrants ineligible for the Albania program.

This prompted her government to approve a new decree on Oct. 21 aimed at overcoming the legal roadblocks set by judges.

That decree upgraded the legal status of its list of safe countries, making it an act of law rather than a simple ministerial decree, making it harder for courts to challenge its validity.

It also removed Nigeria, Columbia, and Cameroon from the list of safe nations, due to specific concerns about those countries.

Under the five-year, 670 million euro ($730 million) agreement between Rome and Tirana, up to 3,000 migrants intercepted by the Italian coast guard in international waters each month can be held in Albania, where they will be vetted for asylum in Italy or sent back to their countries of origin.

Italy has agreed to take those migrants granted asylum, but any whose applications fail will be deported directly from Albania.

Though the center has a capacity for 3,000 migrants, it will begin with 400 and slowly scale up to 880 in a few weeks.

A maximum of 36,000 can be dispatched each year, so long as they have come from the list of countries classified as "safe."

Under the plans, only "non-vulnerable" men coming from those countries will be housed in the centers.

"Vulnerable" migrants such as women, children, the elderly, and those who are ill or victims of torture will be accommodated in Italy, and families will not be separated under the scheme.