Switzerland to Resume Sending Asylum Seekers Back to Italy

The Swiss government plans to resume the transfer of alleged asylum seekers who entered E.U. territory through Italy back to the neighboring nation by the end of August.

For nearly four years, the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has suspended the application of the so-called Dublin Regulations in Italy. The regulations are a controversial E.U. rule that grants member states nations the ability to send alleged asylum seekers back to the E.U. country in which the migrant first entered E.U. territory.

Although Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, it is part of the region’s Schengen open borders agreement and a signatory of the Dublin Regulations.

State Secretariat for Migration spokesperson Magdalena Baker confirmed to the Swiss broadcaster SRF that the “first flights have been booked” for the transfer of the migrants back to Italy — noting that these would initially be “isolated cases.” Baked stated that the resumption of the transfers will take place through a gradual process starting on the end of August.

{snip}

Per SRF, Italy refused to accept the transfer of 3,794 alleged asylum seekers from Switzerland after the suspension of the Dublin Regulations. The Swiss State Secretariat told the broadcaster that Switzerland was thus “obligated” grant asylum procedures to the migrants, with almost 40 percent having so far received said benefits, and about 1,300 whose procedures are underway. As such, the Secretariat reportedly said, “Switzerland could now only return 632 people to Italy.”

{snip}