Greece and Italy today denied reports that that the United States plans to transfer to it a certain number of migrants from Latin America in order to discourage them from making the journey to the US border with Mexico, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
On Thursday “CBS News“ (CBS News) reported that the scheme calls for Greece and Italy to accept a small number of migrants who have already been cleared by US immigration authorities, set up last year in four Latin American countries to process the documents of migrants hoping to reach USA.
„The message of „CBS“ not true. There is neither an agreement nor a request from the US to transfer legal migrants to Greece,”, Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum Dimitris Keridis wrote on the “X“ platform.
A source in Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni's office described the claims as “completely misleading” but also confirmed that Italy and the US are in the early stages of discussing a very limited migrant exchange program that the US would accept some migrants from Libya, while “certain European Mediterranean countries will shelter several dozen” asylum seekers from Latin America. The source specified that if this is agreed, Italy is expected to accept “around 20” Venezuelans of Italian origin.
Another source at the Italian Interior Ministry said that “Italy would never agree to the transfer of hundreds of people to its territory, given that it is already making significant efforts to welcome migrants”.
For now, a migrant transfer scheme is foreseen in the agreement between Italy and Albania, according to which Italy will build centers in Albania to process the asylum applications of migrants it will send to the Balkan country.
This deal has similarities to Britain's plan to transfer Rwandan asylum seekers to East Africa as a measure to discourage migrants crossing the Channel in small boats from France.
U.S. President Joe Biden is expected next week to sign an executive order aimed at limiting migration across the southern border with Mexico, two sources familiar with the plans said yesterday.