ITALY: Minister praises expulsion of "criminal" immigrants
01 January 2002
The Italian interior minister Claudio Scajola jubilantly announced on 19 February 2002 that 1,352 foreigners were expelled during the largest ever police operation to combat illegal immigration and prostitution in Italy. Eight cities were targeted (Rome, Bari, Palermo, Caserta, Genoa, Padua, Turin and Milan) leading to the expulsion with escort to the border of 862 men and 490 women, of whom Scajola stressed that 402 were prostitutes. Scajola added that 151 of the males expelled were involved in exploiting prostitution and related crime. He repeatedly stressed the link between illegal immigration and criminality in a press conference attended by prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and his deputy, Gianfranco Fini. During an operation against drug dealing in 11 cities (Brescia, Verona, Venezia, Savona, Bologna, Rimini, Firenze, Cagliari, palermo, Lecce and Catania), he claimed that 64% of the 216 persons arrested were third-country nationals, "showing the strong impact such individuals have in the distribution of drugs".
Scajola was presenting official figures for the second half of 2001. He said that there were also 121 arrests for illegal immigration and increases in the numbers of confiscated vehicles used by illegal migrants, of intercepted migrants swimming, of expulsions of immigrants escorted to the border (42,087, up from 33,361 in the first half of 2001), 2,447 of which were sent towards Slovenia from Gorizia, a city near to Italy’s north-eastern border. These figures mean that there has been a dramatic increase in the total number of migrants expelled with police escorts, from 15,002 in 2000 to 75,448 in 2001. The government is looking to make this procedure the norm with amendments (see Statewatch vol 11 no 6) to the 1998 immigration law (40/98), which are undergoing parliamentary scrutiny. These envisage the immediate implementation of expulsion orders by forced removal, with the possiblity of filing appeals from abroad, using Italian diplomatic facilities. Scajola said that a special unit to combat illegal immigration is to be set up in March within the Department of Public Safety - Immigration and Border Police Directorate, raising the number of officers involved from 5,222 to 7,780. Five new liaison offices in the Balkans have also been established.
Repubblica 20.2.02; Italian ministry press conference: http://www.interno.it/notiziario/primopiano/conferenza_stampa19_02.html; Annuario Sociale 2001, Gruppo Abele, Feltrinelli, May 2001;