Italy To Build Migrant Centers In Albania; What Can Migrants Expect?

Italy, European country with a long Mediterranean coastline, has announced a deal to build two migrant centers in northwest Albania. The migrant centers will house unaccompanied migrants rescued at sea by Italian boats. 

Giorgia Meloni, the Prime Minister of Italy, and Edi Rama, the Prime Minister of Albania, announced the deal on Monday. The prime ministers of the two countries said at a joint news conference in Rome, “Mass illegal immigration is a phenomenon no EU member state can handle alone.”

Italy to build migrant centers in Albania

Italy will build two migrant centers in Albania, a country in the Balkans, to host tens of thousands of illegal migrants. The migrant centers will be opened by next spring. It can process up to 36,000 people a year. 

These centers will house migrants rescued at sea by Italian boats, and not to those migrants who arrive on Italian shores. The illegal migrants will stay in these migrant centers while Italy examines their asylum requests.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that the plan would not apply to pregnant migrant women, migrant children and vulnerable people. 

The migrant centers will be built at the port of Shengjin and the Gjader area in Albania. Security personnel and police officers will also be present in these centers. 

Rama and Meloni discussed the migrants center agreement in order to help asylum seekers. Meloni said, “I am pleased to announce with Albanian prime minister Edi Rama a memorandum of understanding between Italy and Albania concerning the management of migration flows.”

What can migrants expect?

The migrant centers will be able to accommodate 3,000 people each month. Minors, pregnant women and vulnerable individuals will be moved to Italy.

Italy will pay the expenses to construct the two migrant centers. If the asylum bids by migrants are rejected by Italian authorities, Albania would deport the migrants.

Recently, a massive caravan consisting of thousands of migrants heading for the United States southern border has gained attention. Thousands of people have already joined the migrant caravan heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Many migrants are fleeing poverty and political instability in their respective countries.