Italy: Asylum and immigration
01 January 1991
Italy: Asylum and immigration
artdoc April=1995
Attempts to introduce new immigration law
Following a meeting of the inter-ministerial liaison group on
immigration, a bill was brought before parliament in early
November aimed at providing a series of rules and regulations for
seasonal workers, a review of expulsion orders and new border
controls to make it easier to monitor the entry and departure of
migrant workers. However, what will happen to the bill given the
present political crisis, is unknown.
The main thrust of the bill is to clarify the status of citizens
from non-EU countries who come to Italy in search of seasonal
work and then return home between seasons. The bill states that
those workers who are employed over four consecutive seasons may
apply for a full work permit which should be renewed every two
years. Other articles of the bill are concerned with the rights
of migrant workers within Italy. For instance:
* Any foreigner unable to present a legal residence document
would be punished by imprisonment for up to six months or a fine
of 800,000 lire (approximately £320). If the foreigner has
already been served with an expulsion order, he or she would be
imprisoned for up to 3 years; · Foreigners must pay in full for
health care and any other medical expenses; · Anyone attempting
to enter Italy illegally would be immediately expelled; · Any
attempt to aid `illegal workers' within Italy would be punishable
by imprisonment for between 3 months and 2 years or a fine of
between 2 and 6 million lire (£800-2400) (il manifesto 20.9,
6.11.94).
Politicians and press link immigrants to disease and delinquency
At the beginning of December, the minister of health, Raffaele
Costá, proposed that all immigrants permitted a visa to enter
Italy should be given a health check on arrival. The proposal
came after several scare stories in the press linking immigrants
to disease. For instance, illegal immigrants from Albania were
said to be carrying cholera. And local papers around Naples
carried stories that immigrants were carriers of aids and leprosy
(il manifesto 14.9, 6.12.94, 6.1.95). The National Alliance (AN)
reacted angrily to calls for an amnesty for `illegals' by
referring to the `dangers to public health' and the `need to
ensure the safety of Italian citizens'. Also in September, the
Northern League mayor of Milan, Formentini, referred to
immigrants in general as `delinquents'. An AN deputy in Caserta,
Nicolò Cuscanà, attacked a local bishop for being `too fond of
immigrants and a friend of Communists' (il manifesto 29.9.94).
Immigration raids
In an attempt to `smoke out and register' all illegal immigrants
to prepare the ground for mass expulsions, police in Pistoia,
Tuscany, raided some makeshift camps, forcing immigrants to flee.
They are now sleeping rough (il manifesto 27.12.94).
A police immigration raid on squatted premises in a northern
suburb of Milan discovered 22 people without residence permits
(il manifesto 23.9.94). At Bari, 300 displaced persons from the
former-Yugoslavia were refused entry at the border (il manifesto
29.12.94).
IRR European Race Audit, Bulletin no 12, March 1995. Contact: Liz
Fekete, Institute of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke Street, London
WC1X 9HS. Tel: 0171 837 0041