Expulsions: An Analysis of Italian Repatriation Policy, 2015–2025

The report “Expulsions: An Analysis of Italian Repatriation Policy, 2015–2025,” produced by ActionAid Italy in collaboration with the University of Bari Aldo Moro, highlights a stark contrast between the rise in administrative detention within Repatriation Detention Centres (CPRs) and the actual decline in forced returns carried out by these facilities. In 2025, a peak of 6,835 admissions to CPRs was recorded, set against a decrease in repatriations managed by the centers themselves and significantly rising detention costs per person.

Despite the record number of admissions in 2025, repatriations from the centers declined, while economic costs and detention periods increased significantly.

Over the years, however, the duration of detention has risen: between 2018 and 2024, the figure ranged from approximately 62 to 84 days of detention per repatriation, whereas today the average is 148. These are five months during which migrants “are simply locked away in places of terror, marked by constant human rights violations, self-harm, and death; CPRs are a matter that concerns our democracy, not just the people who end up there without having committed any crime,” said Coresi. Moreover, this detention is often futile; the association estimates that, over an eight-year period, more than two thousand people were held with no prospect of removal, given the lack of bilateral agreements with their countries of origin.