Posted on 01/04/2017 8:10:46 PM PST by Lorianne
on Wednesday pledged to step up deportations of migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected, following a riot in a northern Italian reception centre which ignited political debate.
The country has been on the frontline of migrant arrivals from across the Mediterranean, and in recent years has struggled to provide accommodation for the thousands of newcomers.
"We have saved many lives but we cannot accept rule-breaking. We need to speed up deportations," Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano, the country's former interior minister, said in an interview with La Stampa daily.
He was "working to tie up agreements which will reduce arrivals and prevent departures" from the coast of North Africa, he said after a record 181,000 people were rescued from the Mediterranean and brought to safety in Italy in 2016.
Clashes broke out over living conditions in the Cona migrant centre in the Veneto region following the death of a 25-year-old woman of a blood clot on Monday. An investigation has been opened into the death of the woman, named by Italian media as Ivory Coast native Sandrine Bakayoko, amid reports that workers at the centre waited several hours before calling an ambulance.
During the protests, asylum seekers set fire to furniture and objects inside the facility, and cut electricity. Italian media reported that 25 staff members had to barricade themselves inside a room overnight, though no injuries were reported.
A parliamentary delegation had visited the centre last November, where over 500 migrants live in the former military base.
The MPs presented a report to the Interior Ministry at the time denouncing "serious structural deficiencies", Repubblica reported.
One member of the delegation, Nicola Fratoianni, condemned the poor living conditions including lack of water and light, and and said the centre had been a "ticking timebomb".
(SNIP)
I’m pretty sure Eye-talian “deportations” involve cement footwear.
The big bad wolf does not blow your house down. He sets it on fire.
Well, the Socialist Enviro-Weenies are always whining about, ‘Sea Levels Rising’ so that would be one way...
*SMIRK*
They need to round up all the new “migrants” while still at sea and take them BACK to the shores of Africa. A whole bunch of NGOs are now running an offshore pick up service for migrants in rafts.
The NGOs actually work with the people smugglers, by radio and phone, to arrange pick up coordinates at sea before the rafts leave African shores. It has become big business for the smugglers and NGOs working together.
bttt
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.