Salvini seeks to shut Italy's biggest migrant centre

(7 Feb 2019) A first group of residents was moved out of the biggest migrant centre in Italy on Thursday in line with the hardline immigration stance of Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.
Forty four migrants were escorted out of the Mineo migrant centre in Sicily to be relocated to smaller centres.
Late last year a new law was passed by Italy's government to crack down on the more than 640,000 migrants who have arrived in Italy since 2014.
The law, dubbed the "Salvini Decree," aims to reduce the number of migrants granted humanitarian protections.
Last month, Salvini announced the shut down of Mineo, one of the biggest migrant centres in Europe, by the end of 2019.
Mineo's mayor Giuseppe Mistretta expressed satisfaction and said the presence of the migrants has been disrupting the city's economy.
"This is not an area which offers many job opportunities so there will be many young (Italian) families without jobs and we as a city will need to help them, and the situation is dramatic," Mistretta said.
Another group of 100 people will be moved from Mineo by the end of February.
Critics say the shut down of large, state-run migrant centres in Italy could lead to many migrants without papers being stranded on the streets or joining criminal organisations.
The new law does still allow for certain migrants to obtain "special" residency permits if they have serious health conditions, are victims of domestic violence, work exploitation or sex trafficking, and those who have escaped from a natural calamity in their home countries or those who have carried out heroic acts in Italy.
But migrants are worried.
Nigerian migrant Hahmed Kabir said he was hoping for a job contract in Rome which would mean his residency documents would be renewed.
"We that have the two-year documents, we have sleepless nights, we are worried," said Kabir on Thursday.
Salvini says he merely wants only legitimate, deserving refugees and migrants to access public housing and benefits.
In addition to removing humanitarian protection, the new law makes it more difficult to acquire Italian citizenship, increases the funds allocated for repatriation, and lengthens the list of crimes that will allow the revocation of protection status.
Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.c...
Twitter: / ap_archive
Facebook: / aparchives ​​
Instagram: / apnews
You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.c...