Italy Converts Albanian Migrant Centers Into Repatriation Hubs After Legal Setbacks

The Italian government has issued a decree to repurpose the underutilized centers, originally designed for asylum processing, to facilitate deportations of failed asylum seekers.

• The Italian government announced plans to repurpose its Albanian migrant centers as repatriation hubs for failed asylum seekers, aiming to overcome legal challenges and reactivate the facilities.
• The centers, established under a 2023 agreement with Albania, were initially intended to process asylum seekers intercepted at sea but faced legal barriers, leaving them largely unused.
• A new decree allows migrants with pending expulsion orders in Italy to be transferred to the Albanian centers to await deportation, bypassing earlier legal hurdles.
• The European Court of Justice is reviewing the legality of the original policy, with a ruling expected in the coming months, while rights groups and opposition parties criticize the initiative's cost and legal basis.
• The Albanian centers are part of Italy's broader strategy to externalize migration management, reflecting ongoing debates over EU migration policies and the outsourcing of asylum processes.

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