Migrants sent back to Italy from Albania begin asylum claims

Rome: The ordinary appeal procedure for asylum requests by the second group of migrants who returned from Albania, and who are currently being hosted in a shelter in Brindisi, begins now.

Less than a month after the first transfer of migrants to Albania by the Italian authorities ended in the migrants being brought to Italy, the same procedure has happened again.

Just after midnight on November 12, a group of 7 migrants docked in the Italian port of Brindisi, in the Puglia region. They were taken to a shelter there, where they are beginning the process of applying for asylum within Italy.

The first 12 that were ordered by judges at Rome’s migration tribunal to be sent to Italy in October were taken by a patrol boat to the port of Bari and from there to the center for asylum seekers in Bari.

This time however the port of arrival was Brindisi, and the Restinco shelter in Brindisi.

The group, from Egypt and Bangladesh, were in Albania for just two days. Initial asylum claims for five of the migrants have already been rejected, and now the ordinary appeal process is under way. The migrants have 14 days to lodge an appeal. If they do lodge an appeal, they will be free to move around Italy holding the status of asylum seeker until such a time that their appeals are decided and either accepted or rejected.

For a further two migrants, the territorial commission is still evaluating their requests. One of the two is reported to be a Hindu from Bangladesh, as part of a religious minority in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, he may qualify for international protection.

Under the rules of Italy and Albania’s bilateral agreement, only adult men traveling without their families who are not deemed vulnerable can be detained in Albania.

For now, all eyes in Italy are waiting for the European Court of Justice (ECJ)’s judgement regarding the Rome court’s referral.

ANSA asked workers at the Restinco center how the latest group of migrants to be sent back from Albania are faring and were told “they are well.”