Italian authorities have transferred 40 migrants without permission to stay in the country to immigration detention centres in Albania.
This appears to be the first time that a European Union state has sent rejected migrants to a country outside the EU that is not their home country and was not a country they passed through en route.
A military ship carrying 40 migrants left the Italian port of Brindisi and arrived a few hours later at the Albanian port of Shengjin, where they were to be transferred to centers built and run by the Italian authorities.
The Italian government does not disclose the citizenship or other details of the migrants.
The Shengjin centres, about 65 kilometres (40 miles) northeast of Tirana, were originally set up to process asylum claims from people intercepted by Italy in the Mediterranean. But since they opened in October, Italian courts have banned authorities from using them, and small groups of migrants sent there have been returned to Italy.
Last month, Italy's far-right government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni approved a decree that expanded the use of Albania's fast-track asylum processing centres, including the detention of those whose applications had been rejected and who had received deportation orders.
It is currently unclear how long rejected asylum seekers may be detained in Albania.
In Italy, they can be held in detention for up to 18 months pending deportation.
Ms. Meloni's efforts to step up deportations are reminiscent of US President Donald Trump's recent moves to deport migrants of various nationalities to Panama.
This is also in line with a recent proposal by the EU Commission which, if adopted, would allow EU Member States to set up so-called “return centres” abroad.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
