Italy's Battle with Immigration

Spectator.CO.UK

Recently in the press, we’ve started to see more and more coverage of the Syrian refugee crisis that is currently overtaking Europe. With around 4.1 million Syrians looking for a home, many European countries are being pressured into taking in a good chunk of them.

For Italy and its neighbors on the Southern half of Europe, however, this is just apart of an almost decade long history of taking in refugees from the war torn countries in Africa and the Middle East. The economically slumped region of Europe has seen millions of immigrants since they began to flee their countries, only to be escalated in 2011 when the Libyan Civil War began.

Serving for many as a port from these countries into Northern Europe, Italy had seen over 103,000 in the first 8 months of 2015. This is a giant increase from 2014, which  itself saw a 823% from 2013.

The Migration Patterns into Italy. National Geographic

Italy’s initial response to the crisis was the response of many countries in Europe: they took them, of course. Giving asylum to those that stayed, and even providing phones, a bit of cash, and lessons in the welcoming centers.

However, soon Italy’s recessed economy started to strain, and with the new influx of refugees from Syria, the tensions in Italy are beginning to rise.

Rescued Migrants on Italy's Coast. Telegraph.Co.UK

For one: Italy allegedly threatened to release tens of thousands immigrants into the EU.

With the French reportedly closing off it’s Southeast border to Italian migrants, Italy is growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of response from the European Union’s Interior Ministers. The plan apparently goes like this: either redistribute the load of immigrants within the Union, or the migrants could “receive three-month residence passes that would allow them to travel around most of the EU, enabling them to head towards northern Europe”, which would conveniently solve the problem without any help needed.

There also seems to be a push from the more conservative part of Italy who, instead of waiting for a redistribution of migrants, wants to send the refugees back to their home countries. Their focus apparently lies less on helping people seek asylum from their home countries- which may or may not have been ruined by Imperialism and Western Colonization- and more on the fact that the new refugees could potentially be involved in Libyan gang trafficking or terrorism.

Regardless of whether or not the refugees are coming into Europe for illegal activity, the mortality rate of the trip across the Mediterranean is growing, only prompting more push for Italy and countries like it to take in more refugees. Over 2,500 people have died this year alone in what is probably the harshest part of the journey for them. Below is a video of Dr. Chiara Montaldo on the independent news program “Democracy Now!”, who describes the conditions of many of the people washing up on the shores of Pozzallo, Sicily.

The refugees are risking their lives and health. They are dealing with drowning, infections, and even chemical burns- something that Dr. Montaldo says around 4:22 that it’s something that they “see often…whenever the boat has some type of problem with fuel leaking” and the immigrants (darker skinned mostly, because the lighter skinned immigrants are kept up top and in view so that the risk of being turned away due to colorism is lower) are kept in the lower parts of the boat with the problem for longs periods of time.

The crisis is only getting worse. With thousands more expected to make the trip over this year, there is only hope that a solution can be found.