From August, migrants seeking refuge in Italy could be taken to Albania pending asylum decisions

GJADER, Albania — Migrants rescued at sea while attempting to reach Italy may see themselves transported to Albania beginning next month while their asylum claims are processed, under a controversial deal in which the small Balkan country will host thousands of asylum-seekers on Italy's behalf.

Speaking during a visit to Albania in June, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the two centers designed to shelter the migrants would be ready to host the first 1,000 people by Aug. 1. But with that day at hand, intensive construction was still underway in one of them, casting doubt on whether it will be entirely ready in time. Neither Italy nor Albania has indicated when the first migrants are likely to arrive.

The five-year deal, signed by Meloni and her Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama last November, provides for the sheltering of up to 3,000 migrants picked up by the Italian coast guard in international waters each month. They will be screened initially on board the ships that have rescued them, before being sent to Albania for additional screening.

The centers will house only adult men, Italy's ambassador to Albania, Fabrizio Bucci, told The Associated Press. People deemed to be vulnerable — women, children, the elderly and those who are ill or victims of torture — will be accommodated in Italy. Families will also not be separated, the ambassador said.

Those who are sent to Albania will retain their right under international and European Union law to apply for asylum in Italy and have their claims processed there, but their movement in and out of the centers in Albania will be restricted.

With each claim taking around a month to process, the number of people sent to Albania could reach 36,000 in a year. Italy has agreed to welcome those who are granted asylum. Those whose applications are rejected face deportation directly from Albania, the ambassador said.

Endorsed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as an example of ''out-of-box thinking" on tackling the issue of migration into the European Union, the deal has been slammed by human rights groups as setting a dangerous precedent.

It is not the first time a country has sought to outsource the housing of asylum-seekers. New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has scrapped the former Conservative government's much-criticized plan to send some migrants to Rwanda to process their asylum claims. New Home Secretary Yvette Copper said the cost of 700 million pounds ($904 million) for the plan was the ''most shocking waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen.''

The two centers in Albania will cost Italy 670 million euros ($730 million) over five years. The facilities will be fully run by Italy and both centers are under Italian jurisdiction, while Albanian guards will provide external security.

One of the centers, in the port of Shengjin on Albania's Adriatic coast, has been ready for more than a month. But the other, about 24 kilometers (15 miles) to its east near a former military airport in Gjader, was still far from being finished with just a week to go before its scheduled opening date.

Bucci, the Italian ambassador, said the first delay came due to the crumbling soil at the Gjader camp site, which needed intervention to consolidate it. Also the heat wave in July forced authorities to impose a break during the hottest hours of the day.

"Our main concern is, and will remain, the absolute safety and protection of the workers on the site and, eventually, of the migrants that will be hosted in Gjader,'' Bucci said.

Container buildings that will provide housing for the camp residents were already installed, but piles of panels and frames to build further housing units lay at the main entrance.

The head of the nearby village of Gjader and local residents said work at the center was far from complete.

Away from the controversy sparked by the deal elsewhere, residents of the low-income village — a source of emigration itself — said they appreciated the center being built in their area. With few local job opportunities, more than two-thirds of Gjader's population has emigrated to other European countries over the past 30 years, and some locals said they felt an affinity with the prospective residents of the migrant center.

''Honoring those in need will make us more in number, despite their race, language or nation,'' said Bib Lazri, a 70-year-old Gjader resident.

The center is also bringing an economic boom to the impoverished rural area.

In Shengjin, a 4,000-square-meter (43,000-square-foot) area contains housing units and offices at the port, surrounded by a five-meter (16-foot) high metal fence topped with barbed wire. A sign reads: "Security Level 1." Journalists were not allowed access.

Meloni and her right-wing allies have long demanded European countries share more of the migration burden. She has held up the Albania agreement as an innovative solution to a problem that has vexed the EU for years.

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Associated Press writer Paolo Santalucia in Rome contributed to this report.

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