The calm sea has caused a recent increase in arrivals: one thousand migrants arrived in four days on Italian coasts, according to official data updated on May 12.

Since the beginning of the year, according to data provided by the Italian Interior Ministry, 19,000 migrants have arrived in Italy after crossing the Mediterranean. The arrivals numbers this year are roughly in line with arrivals during the same period in 2024.

In the meantime, the Italian government has transferred a new cohort of 28 people to the permanent repatriation center in Gjader, Albania, making the total number of people being held at the facility number 43.

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Bangladeshi nationals represent one third of the arrivals in 2025

About one third of arrivals this year come originally from Bangladesh. The analysis of the nationalities of the foreigners who reached Italy this year shows a clear prevalence of persons from Asia and East Africa, while the number of those leaving from sub-Saharan Africa and Tunisia are low.

At the top of the list of the countries of origin there is Bangladesh, with 6,755 persons, while Pakistan is in third place with 2,095 persons. It is not a coincidence that the Minister of Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, just came back from a trip to the two countries, where he met with authorities and signed memorandums of understanding last week to strengthen cooperation and stop migration from those areas.

Eritreans are the second on the list of arrivals (2,158); followed by Egyptians (1,940), Syrians (1,005), Ethiopians (861) and Sudanese (604).

The issue of migration was addressed during the Italian-Greek inter-government summit, held on May 12 in Rome. "We agree on the idea that to face an extremely complex topic" such as trying to prevent irregular migration "there is the need for innovative solutions," said the Italian Premier, Giorgia Meloni in her declarations to the press together with the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

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The repatriation center in Albania

One of those so-called innnovative solutions, is the building of the asylum processing centers, which have now become repatriation centers in Albania. The possibility of sending migrants to the centers, which have been barely used since being inaugurated, might be about to change after two recent pieces of news.

This week, Albania went to the polls, and the country's Premier, Edi Rama, who signed the Italy-Albania plan alongside Meloni, was returned to office.

Also, Italy's highest appeals court, the Court of Cassation, ruled that it was legitimate to hold migrants at the Gjader center, even after a detainee may have applied for asylum. This ruling essentially implied that the centers in Albania could be seen as equivalent to repatriation centers in Italy.

In the last few weeks, before the court of appeal issued its sentence, 18 migrants were taken back to Italy after applying for international protection.

Following the decision of the judges at the high court, the Italian government should be able to hold migrants sent to Albania at the center in Gjader. To date,16 people held at the center have already been repatriated and five people were transferred back to Italy due to health reasons.