Migrants and refugees in Italy

In the central Mediterranean, five people, including a minor, are missing and believed dead, after 45 were rescued by the Italian coastguard close to the island of Lampedusa, as reported by InfoMigrants on 5 December 2025. The boat had left from Tunisia, with passengers coming from Gambia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Senegal, Guinea and Ivory Coast. According to UNHCR, the boat carried 25 unaccompanied minors.

The sea rescue ship ‘Humanity 1’, operated by NGO SOS Humanity, arrived in the port of Ortona, Abruzzo on 1 December after rescuing 85 people, including unaccompanied minors, ANSA reported on 3 December 2025. The passengers, coming mostly from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Morocco, Egypt and Sudan, had departed from Libya and were rescued in international waters.

The suspension of the Schengen agreement between Italy and Slovenia has led to reduced arrivals of people to Italy, the police chief of the northeastern Italian city of Trieste, Lilia Fredella has stated. According to a report by ANSA from 1 December 2025, the duration of the measure has been extended for six more months, until 18 June 2026.

Two migrants have been reported missing after they jumped into the sea during an inspection by border police of a cargo ship off the Port of Livorno in Tuscany, Italy on 30 October 2025. As ANSA reported on 3 November, search and rescue operations for the two people, who are believed to be Moroccan nationals, have been unsuccessful so far.

A private sea rescue ship run by the NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans has rejected orders by the Italian authorities and brought 92 passengers to the port of Empedocle, Sicily, InfoMigrants reported on 5 November 2025.. The NGO stated that it was assigned the port of Livorno, but that the journey would have been too far for the rescued migrants, which included minors and a pregnant woman.

Tavalo Asilo e Immigrazione (TAI), a coalition of rights organisation monitoring Italy’s migration policy, has criticised Italy’s repatriation centers in Albania after a monitoring visit to the centers on October 2025, ANSA reported on 31 October 2025. The coalition reported that 70% of people detained in these centers have been sent back to Italy because judges did not authorise their detention, while the other 30% did not meet criteria for release or had an approved removal from Italy. In a statement, TAI declared that detention in the repatriation centers “lacks a legal basis, violating the repatriation directive and jurisprudence from the European Court of Human Rights, which has already sentenced Italy for similar practices of arbitrary deprivation of personal freedoms.

Italy