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The first repatriation linked to the Gjadra-based migrant detention center is carried out – but the individual ended up being deported from Italy, not Albania.
The case concerned a Bangladeshi national who was sent from Italy to the Gjadri repatriation center in northern Albania, to then return to Italy and then to Bangladesh.
The entire operation took 4 separate trips and a week, at a cost of over 5,000 euros, according to La Repubblica.
This cost is almost double the average cost of a standard deportation, recently updated by the Ministry of the Interior at €2,800.
But Italy's Interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi, described the first repatriation as a key step in cracking down on irregular migration.
The facility, entirely under Italian control, was redesignated a repatriation detention center in late March to circumvent legal hurdles.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's plan for the Italian-funded centers in Albania was to use them as hubs to expedite processing and deportation procedures for adult male migrants from "safe countries" who had been rescued at sea.
The new decree allows the transfer of immigrants with a return decision from Italy to Albanian centers.
Then, in mid-April, around 40 migrants from countries including Tunisia, Egypt, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nigeria were sent from Brindisi to Albania, after being moved from other detention centres across Italy.
According to Monday's ruling by the Rome Court of Appeal, anyone transferred to the centers and then seeking asylum cannot be legally detained in Albania and must be returned to Italy.
However, Italian authorities have said that more deportations from the country are expected in the coming days.
Last week, the European Commission approved an EU-wide list of "safe countries of origin", allowing for faster and easier rejection of asylum applications.
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