12 migrants sent to Albania for processing are returned to Italy

The first group of 12 migrants were returned to Italy from newly opened asylum processing centers in Albania following a ruling by a Rome court. 

The immigration unit of the Rome Court decided on Friday that migrants sent to Albania by Italy cannot be detained. However, they cannot be released in Albania; therefore they will be vetted for asylum eligibility in Italy or potentially sent back to their countries of origin.

This decision represents an early stumbling block to Italy’s plan to send migrants to detention and processing centers in Albania.

The court’s rejection of detention was based on concerns about the safety of the migrants’ home countries — Bangladesh and Egypt. The court cited an Oct. 4 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The Italian government on Friday vowed to push ahead with the program, saying it would appeal the court ruling.

The detention centers, operational for just a week, received their first group of 16 migrants from Bangladesh and Egypt, who arrived on an Italian warship on Wednesday. Four other migrants had already been rejected by center staff — two due to vulnerability after health assessments and two because they were minors, according to the Associated Press.

Under the 2023 agreement, Albania agreed to receive up to 36,000 male migrants intercepted in international waters each year, to two asylum-processing centers in northern Albania. 

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni touted the initiative as a model for Europe. But after the court ruling, she expressed concerns that if countries like Bangladesh and Egypt are deemed unsafe, nearly all migrants could be excluded from the program, making it ineffective.

During a trip to Lebanon, Meloni said she would convene a Cabinet meeting on Monday to address the issue. 

“We’ll meet to approve some norms that will allow us to overcome this obstacle,” Meloni said, according to an AP report. “I believe it’s up to the government and not magistrates to establish which countries can be considered safe.”