Italy Sends Boat to Albania With Migrants Who Were Bound for Italian Shores

Italy sent its first boat carrying migrants to Albania on Monday, part of a plan to send migrants who are rescued in the Mediterranean by Italian ships to detention centers in the Balkan nation, where their asylum claims will be assessed.

The plan, which is being heralded by the Italian government and some European Union leaders as an innovative model to manage and deter immigration to Italy, has been criticized by human rights officials and groups, who fear it would put the migrants at risk and expose them to rights violations.

Francesco Kamel, a spokesman for Italy’s interior ministry, said Italian officials would not immediately disclose the number or nationality of the migrants or details of their arrival time in Albania, since the Italian naval boat carrying them may still stop to gather more. He said the boat has been picking up migrants off the southern Italian coast.