Giorgia Meloni launches renewed effort to detain migrants in Albania

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Italy made a second attempt to detain Europe-bound asylum seekers in Albania on Friday, after a court sent the first group back last month.

The Italian government’s plan to hold up to 3,000 asylum seekers in two Italian-run centres in Albania is a cornerstone of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s effort to curb the influx of irregular migrants into Italy from across the Mediterranean Sea.

Her controversial plan suffered a serious setback last month, when the first 16 asylum seekers dispatched to Albania, after being rescued in the Mediterranean, all had to be quickly sent to Italy.

Of that first group — all from Bangladesh and Egypt — four were deemed either too young or too frail to be held in the Albanian centres, which are only supposed to accommodate healthy, adult men from countries Rome deems “safe” for returns.

An immigration judge in Rome then ruled that the remaining dozen had to a right to be taken to Italy as their countries of origin could not be labelled as “safe countries”.

The court ruling infuriated Meloni who complained that it was not “the judges’ competence to determine which countries are safe and which are not”. Her cabinet has since formally declared 19 countries, including Bangladesh and Egypt, as “safe” for returns.

On Friday, an Italian navy ship brought eight new asylum seekers — all from Bangladesh and Egypt — to the Albanian centres as Meloni launched a fresh bid to test the law.

The latest group were selected from hundreds of irregular migrants rescued by Italian authorities in the Mediterranean in recent days. But within hours of their early morning arrival, one of the men was found to have serious health problems that required his urgent transfer to Italy.

The rest are expected to appear within 48 hours before an immigration judge, who must decide whether to approve their continued detention in Albania, or order their transfer to Italy.

Meloni said on Friday that her Albania scheme had drawn “extraordinary interest” from other European leaders at a summit in Budapest as they were all keen to find ways to curb irregular migrant inflows into their own countries.

She said some of them had shared her concern about judges rejecting what a government deems as a “safe” destination for the return of those without genuine asylum claims.

According to those rulings, Meloni said there was a “risk of facing a reality where there are no safe countries”, which would undermine efforts to curb illegal migration.

Under Italy’s deal with Albania, Rome can hold up to 3,000 people at a time in the two Italian-operated detention centres while assessing their asylum claims. Once that process is complete, those whose claims are rejected will be sent back to their own countries, while those found eligible will get the right to stay in Italy.

Critics, including Italy’s opposition parties, have slammed the scheme as costly political theatre given the small percentage of irregular migrants arriving in Italy that are actually likely to be held there.

So far this month, nearly 2,500 irregular migrants have arrived in Italy by boat from across the Mediterranean, according to interior ministry statistics.