Landings, since the beginning of the year 56 expelled considered dangerous: more than half are Tunisians

Tunisians are first on the list of those expelled from Italy from January 1st until yesterday. In fact, there are 36, out of a total of 56, migrants from Tunisia and sent back based on provisions signed by the Minister of the Interior or the mayors. Next on the list of expulsions, Morocco ranks second with 8 returnees. The remainder are Albanians (2), Algerians (2), an Afghan and citizens of Gambia (1), Ghana (1), Kosovo (1), North Macedonia (1), Nigeria (1), Pakistan (1) and Senegal. (1). From January 1st to October 23rd of this year, 15,370 Tunisians arrived irregularly in Italy, preceded only by Guinea (17,466) and Ivory Coast (15,646). The last Tunisian expelled in chronological order is a 42-year-old irregular in national territory who ended up in the crosshairs during his detention in Piacenza prison where he was part of the monitored subjects. In his cell, the Interior Ministry said, a photo was found of a man armed with a machine gun and with the ISIS flag behind him. However, at the end of September, Trento Police Headquarters expelled a 29-year-old Tunisian subject to an expulsion order issued by the supervising magistrate because he was considered a socially dangerous person. The man, who had been illegal in Italy for years, had a history of property crimes, drug trafficking and violent behavior.

But not only. The Tunisian, after being detained for violating the ban on approaching his partner, was escorted to Tunisia by four agents from the immigration office at Police Headquarters. In fact, to avoid expulsion, the 29-year-old also tried to injure himself with a razor blade and faked a broken hand. And some of the migrants for whom the Catania Court decided not to validate their detention in Repatriation Retention Centers (CPR) were also Tunisians. The exodus of people at risk from Tunisia, however, does not begin now. In 2017, following a double pardon granted by the authorities to around 2,500 prisoners for common crimes, numerous ex-convicts left the beaches of Sfax towards the Italian coast. In fact, aboard the usual boats, some of these subjects arrived in Lampedusa where harassment and robberies of citizens were reported. The following year, in 2018, the then director of the Department of Penitentiary Administration (Dap) Santi Consolo, declared that in Italian prisons there were 200 radicalized prisoners of Maghrebi origin and, therefore, reported for terrorism. And speaking of the risk of terrorism linked to the flow of illegal immigrants, in recent days a 28-year-old Gambian was also expelled and sentenced by the Naples Court of Justice to five years in prison for participating in ISIS. The 28-year-old was also accompanied to the border to board a direct flight to his country of origin, following the expulsion order signed by the mayor of Cosenza.

Furthermore, the Gambian was arrested for terrorism in 2018. After the rejection of his request for international protection and the declaration of inadmissibility of the appeal presented by the Bari Territorial Commission, the 28-year-old was repatriated. Since 2015, Italy has carried out 712 expulsions. In 2022 alone, 79 measures were implemented, of which 5 were issued by the Minister of the Interior, 53 by the mayor, 15 by the judicial authority, one based on EU readmission agreements and 5 rejections under article 10 of the Consolidated Immigration Law . In 2021, however, 59 repatriations were carried out. But the issue of expulsions also concerns other European countries. Germany could launch a package of measures for more numerous and faster repatriations tomorrow. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in an interview given in recent days to Der Spiegel, expressed his desire to “carry out large-scale expulsions of those who do not have the right to stay in Germany”. «That – he added – also requires a certain toughness. We must have the strength to tell people that unfortunately they cannot stay here”, because “a lot of people are arriving”. Scholz, however, opened up to the need to allow the immigration of “the workers we need” and welcome “those who ask for asylum, for example because they are politically persecuted”, and those who flee “war or death”.