Italy Repurposes Albanian Deportation Centers After Legal Defeats

The Meloni government shifts the role of its controversial Albanian facilities to house rejected asylum seekers as EU legal review continues.

Italy's government has issued a decree to use Albanian deportation centers for housing rejected asylum seekers, abandoning plans to process asylum claims offshore.
The original policy, launched in October 2024, faced repeated legal challenges and was blocked three times by Italian courts.
The European Court of Justice is still reviewing the legality of Italy's use of Albanian centers, with no ruling yet issued.
The centers, which cost over €650 million and can hold over 1,200 people, remain largely unused since their creation.
Italy remains the only EU country operating migrant detention centers outside the EU, drawing significant scrutiny from other member states.