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ROME – Italy’s right-wing government has cracked down on immigration, passing measures to give authorities the power to detain migrants for up to 18 months and ordering the construction of new centers to house them.
The tough reforms follow a surge in boat arrivals this month. More than 10,000 people landed on the small Italian island of Lampedusa, a number more than the usual resident population.
Lampedusa, just over 100 km off the coast of Tunisia, is the gateway to Europe for many migrants looking for a new life.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni came to power a year ago promising to curb immigration. However, according to government data, arrivals in 2023 have almost doubled compared to last year.
Rome’s cabinet approved measures on Monday to extend the period of detention of illegal immigrants from three to 18 months, according to an official in the prime minister’s office. Ministers also approved the construction of new detention centers to hold all those arriving without a visa until it is determined that they have the right to asylum or are repatriated.
“We will have the necessary time not only to carry out the necessary controls, but also to proceed with the return of those who do not have the right to international protection,” Meloni said. The fight against immigration is “an epochal fight for Italy and Europe,” she said.
On Friday in a video News She said coups, natural disasters, grain wars and jihadism, as well as an economic crisis in Tunisia, had contributed to “unsustainable immigration pressure” on Italy. The conditions could lead “tens of millions of people to seek a better life in Europe,” she claimed. “But obviously Italy and Europe cannot accommodate this enormous mass of people.”
She said she wanted to “send a message” to would-be migrants. “There is no point in trusting the traffickers because they take a lot of money, put you on a boat that is not suitable for the journey, and as soon as you get here you are arrested and sent back.”
The Lampedusa crisis gave Meloni the perfect excuse to appease her base by suppressing migration.
The new measures are intended to work in combination with a plan to combat human trafficking with increased surveillance and a European naval mission to block departures, which EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Sunday during a visit to the island with Meloni.
The leader of the opposition Democrats, Elly Schlein, called the extension of prison terms “a hateful decision.” In a letter to La Repubblica, she said such measures had not helped increase returns in the past. She called for “safe and legal” ways to get to Europe.
Repatriation efforts have been unsuccessful in the past. According to the think tank OpenPolis, between 2014 and 2020 only around 20 percent of those against whom a return order was imposed left the country.