The Italian government will approve on Monday the opening of new repatriation centers for illegal immigrants and extending their stay to 18 months amid a crisis over arrivals on the southern island of Lampedusa. ) over 10,000 people in just three days.
Far-right Giorgi Meloni’s cabinet is meeting to approve a decree that would instruct the defense ministry to build “as soon as possible” the so-called CPR, centers where illegal immigrants await their deportation. EFE was told by the government.
There are a dozen such facilities in the country, distributed in Turin (north), Rome (center), Bari or Brindisi (south), but the intention is to open at least one in the twenty-one regions of Italy. New CPR [similares a los Centros de Internamiento para Extranjeros (CIE) de España ] They will be in areas where there is “low population density that can be easily identified and monitored,” as Maloney himself called for.
On the other hand, the period of detention before deportation of illegal immigrants will increase to 18 months, which is the maximum period allowed by the European Union (EU).
“We will have all the time we need, not only to carry out the necessary investigations, but also to carry out the repatriation of those who are not entitled to international protection,” Maloney said at the beginning of the Council of Ministers.
In the case of asylum seekers, the legislation does not change and they can stay for up to 12 months. Meloni, who faces nearly 130,000 immigrants this year, already announced the increase in detention for illegal immigrants last Friday.
“I want to send a clear message to those who enter Italy illegally: it is not advisable to entrust yourself to human traffickers, because they ask for a lot of money, put you on boats that are often not ready for this trip and, in any case, if you enter Italy illegally, “you will be deported and They will pay you back,” he warned.
For its part, the Italian government plans to approve new measures on unaccompanied minor immigrants next week. The executive is thus trying to manage a new wave of migration at its southern border, particularly on the tiny island of Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost enclave off the African coast.
According to the data updated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in a constantly growing number, 129,869 migrants arrived on Italian shores this year, which is almost double the number in the same period in 2022 (68,195) and triple the number in 2021 (43,265).
Malone traveled to Lampedusa this week with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and announced a European action plan to curb immigration, although opponents and islanders themselves called the visit a “podium”.
“President von der Leyen’s presence in Lampedusa was also very important from a symbolic point of view. The presence of Europe in the borders most exposed to immigration underlines that this border is not only Italian, but also European,” praised Meloni in the Council of Ministers today.
Although he also stressed that he was “watching” for the EU to “quickly” pay the investments promised to Tunisia, from where most of the ships arriving in Italy departed.
Source: El Diario
