From August, migrants seeking refuge in Italy could be taken to Albania pending asylum decisions

GJADER, Albania (AP) — Migrants rescued at sea while attempting to reach Italy may see themselves transported to Albania beginning next month while their asylum claims are processed, under a controversial deal in which the small Balkan country will host thousands of asylum-seekers on Italy’s behalf.

Speaking during a visit to Albania in June, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the two centers designed to shelter the migrants would be ready to host the first 1,000 people by Aug. 1. But with that day at hand, intensive construction is still underway in one of them, casting doubt on whether it will be entirely ready in time. Neither Italy nor Albania has indicated when the first migrants are likely to arrive.

The five-year deal, signed by Meloni and her Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, last November, provides for the sheltering of up to 3,000 migrants picked up by the Italian coast guard in international waters each month. They will be screened initially on board the ships that have rescued them, before being sent to Albania for additional screening.

The centers will house only adult men, Italy’s ambassador to Albania, Fabrizio Bucci, told The Associated Press. People deemed to be vulnerable — women, children, the elderly and those who are ill or victims of torture — will be accommodated in Italy. Families will also not be separated, the ambassador said. Those who are sent to Albania will retain their right under international and European Union law to apply for asylum in Italy and have their claims processed there.

With each claim taking around a month to process, the number of people sent to Albania could reach 36,000 in a year. Italy has agreed to welcome those who are granted asylum. Those whose applications are rejected face deportation directly from Albania, the ambassador said.

Endorsed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as an example of “out-of-box thinking" on tackling the issue of migration into the European Union, the deal has been slammed by human rights groups as setting a dangerous precedent.

"The International Rescue Committee (IRC) highlights the risks associated with the scheme and urges the EU and its member states not to use this dangerous model as a blueprint for their own approaches to asylum and migration," the humanitarian organization said in a July 23 statement. Earlier this year, the IRC had described the deal as “costly, cruel and counterproductive.”

It is not the first time a country has sought to outsource the housing of asylum-seekers. New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has scrapped the former Conservative government's much-criticized plan to send some migrants to Rwanda to process their asylum claims. New Home Secretary Yvette Copper said the cost of 700 million pounds ($904 million) for the plan was the “most shocking waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen.”

The two centers in Albania will cost Italy 670 million euros ($730 million) over five years. The facilities will be fully run by Italy and both centers are under Italian jurisdiction, while Albanian guards will provide external security.

One of the centers, in the port of Shengjin on Albania's Adriatic coast, has been ready for more than a month. But the other, about 24 kilometers (15 miles) to its east near a former military airport in Gjader, was still far from being finished with just a week to go before its scheduled opening date.

Bucci, the Italian ambassador, said the first delay came due to the crumbling soil at the Gjader camp site, which needed intervention to consolidate it. Also the heat wave in July forced authorities to impose a break during the hottest hours of the day.

"Our main concern is, and will remain, the absolute safety and protection of the workers on the site and, eventually, of the migrants that will be hosted in Gjader,” Bucci said.

The Associated Press was not allowed access to the camp, but evidence of intensive construction was clear, with two excavators and a tall crane working furiously, digging to prepare for the installation of a perimeter fence around the roughly 50-acre (20-hectare) site and moving huge pipes.

Container buildings that will provide housing for the camp residents were already installed, but piles of panels and frames to build further housing units lay at the main entrance.

The head of the nearby village of Gjader and local residents said work at the center was far from complete.

Away from the controversy sparked by the deal elsewhere, residents of the low-income village — a source of emigration itself — said they appreciated the center being built in their area. With few local job opportunities, more than two-thirds of Gjader's population has emigrated to other European countries over the past 30 years, and some locals said they felt an affinity with the prospective residents of the migrant center.

“Honoring those in need will make us more in number, despite their race, language or nation,” said Bib Lazri, a 70-year-old Gjader resident.

The center is also bringing an economic boom to the impoverished rural area.

“The people have seen their life improved. They are looking to get employed. There is movement and vivacity," said village head Sander Preka. “People are very happy.” His own shop, he said, had seen 30% higher turnover in the past month, while some locals have rented their homes to migrant center employees and others have found work at the center.

In Shengjin, a 4,000-square-meter (43,000-square-foot) area contains housing units and offices at the port, surrounded by a five-meter (16-foot) high metal fence topped with barbed wire. A sign reads: "Security Level 1." Journalists were not allowed access.

Meloni and her right-wing allies have long demanded European countries share more of the migration burden. She has held up the Albania agreement as an innovative solution to a problem that has vexed the EU for years.

Llazar Semini on X: https://x.com/lsemini

Follow AP’s coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

A migrant center is seen from above in Gjader, northwest Albania, Thursday, July 25, 2024. Migrants rescued at sea while attempting to reach Italy are likely to see themselves transported to Albania from next month while their asylum claims are processed, under a controversial deal in which the small Balkan country will host thousands of asylum-seekers on Italy's behalf. (AP Photo/Vlasov Sulaj)

A migrant center, right, is seen from above in the port of Shengjin, northwest Albania, Thursday, July 25, 2024. Migrants rescued at sea while attempting to reach Italy are likely to see themselves transported to Albania from next month while their asylum claims are processed, under a controversial deal in which the small Balkan country will host thousands of asylum-seekers on Italy's behalf. (AP Photo/Vlasov Sulaj)

A migrant center is seen from above in the port of Shengjin, northwest Albania, Thursday, July 25, 2024. Migrants rescued at sea while attempting to reach Italy are likely to see themselves transported to Albania from next month while their asylum claims are processed, under a controversial deal in which the small Balkan country will host thousands of asylum-seekers on Italy's behalf. (AP Photo/Vlasov Sulaj)

People gather on the beach as a migrant center is seen in the foreground in the port of Shengjin, northwest Albania, Thursday, July 25, 2024. Migrants rescued at sea while attempting to reach Italy are likely to see themselves transported to Albania from next month while their asylum claims are processed, under a controversial deal in which the small Balkan country will host thousands of asylum-seekers on Italy's behalf. (AP Photo/Vlasov Sulaj)

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy" Combs was arrested late Monday in New York, where he faces a sealed criminal indictment, prosecutors announced late Monday.

Details of the charges weren't immediately announced by prosecutors, but the hip-hop mogul has faced a stream of allegations by women in recent months who accused him of sexual assault.

The U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Damian Williams, said in a statement that federal agents arrested Combs. “We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.”

Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, issued a statement saying: “We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

He added that Combs had gone to New York last week in anticipation of the charges being brought.

“He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo said.

Combs was arrested in a Manhattan hotel lobby and is in federal custody, said a person familiar with the arrest who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The criminal charges are a major but not unexpected takedown of one of the most prominent producers and most famous names in the history of hip-hop.

The federal investigation of the 58-year-old Combs was revealed when Homeland Security Investigations agents served simultaneous search warrants and raided Combs' mansions in Los Angeles and Miami on March 25.

His defense attorney Aaron Dyer the day after the raids called them “a gross use of military-level force,” said the allegations were “meritless,” and said Combs was “innocent and will continue to fight" to clear his name.

Combs, then known as Puff Daddy, was at the center of the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop battles of the 1990s as the partner and producer of the Notorious B.I.G., who was shot and killed in 1997. But like many of those who survived the era, his public image had softened with age into a genteel host of parties in Hollywood and the Hamptons, a fashion-forward businessman, and a doting father who spoiled his kids, some of whom lost their mother in 2018.

But a different image began emerging in November, when his former protege and girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, became the first of several people to sue him for sexual abuse with stories of a steady stream of sex workers in drug-fueled settings where some of those involved were coerced or cajoled into sex.

In her November lawsuit, Cassie alleged years of abuse, including beatings and rape. Her suit also alleged Combs engaged in sex trafficking by “requiring her to engage in forced sexual acts in multiple jurisdictions” and by engaging in “harboring and transportation of Plaintiff for purposes of sex induced by force, fraud, or coercion.”

It also said he compelled her to help him traffic male sex workers Combs would force Cassie to have sex with while he filmed.

The suit was settled settled the following day, but its reverberations would last far longer. Combs lost lingering allies, supporters and those reserving judgment when CNN in May aired a leaked video of him punching Cassie, kicking her and throwing her on the floor in a hotel hallway.

The following day, in his first real acknowledgement of wrongdoing since the stream of allegations began, Combs posted a social media video apologizing, saying “I was disgusted when I did it” and “I’m disgusted now.” Cassie’s lawsuit was followed by at least a half-dozen others in the ensuing months.

In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.

Another of Combs’ accusers was a woman who said the rap producer raped her two decades ago when she was 17.

Another woman who filed a lawsuit, April Lampos, said she was a college student in 1994 when she met Combs and a series of “terrifying sexual encounters” with Combs and those around him began that lasted for years.

Combs and his attorneys denied nearly all of the lawsuits’ allegations.

While authorities did not publicly say that the lawsuits set off the criminal investigation, Dyer said when the warrants were served that the case was based on “meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.”

The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Cassie and Lampros did.

As the founder of Bad Boy Records, Combs became one of the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades Along with the Notorious B.I.G. he worked with a slew of top-tier artists including Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112.

Combs’ roles in his businesses beyond music — including lucrative private-label spirits, a media company and the Sean John Fashion line — took major hits when the allegations arose.

The consequences were even greater when the leaked beating video emerged. Howard University cut ties with him, and he returned his key to the city of New York at the request of the mayor.

Dalton reported from Los Angeles.

FILE - Sean "Diddy" Combs arrives at the LA Premiere of "The Four: Battle For Stardom" at the CBS Radford Studio Center on May 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)