Albania agrees to temporarily house migrants who reach Italy while their asylum bids are processed

By FRANCES D’EMILIO
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Albania has agreed to temporarily give shelter to thousands of the migrants who reach Italy while Italian authorities process their asylum bids. The deal was announced on Monday after Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni met in Rome with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. Italy will pay for the construction of two centers in Albania which can house up to 3,000 migrants at a time. Children and pregnant women will be excluded from the plan. If Italy rejects the migrants’ bids, Albania would deport them under the deal. Meloni says if asylum applications are swiftly processed, as many as 36,000 migrants could be sent for processing on Albanian territory annually.