Did Giorgia Meloni’s Government Drop the Ball on Immigration?

  |  
Jul 17, 2023

After being elected in 2022 on an ostensibly right-wing populist platform, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has apparently facilitated an alarming degree of illegal immigration into Italy. 

According to a Twitter user @The_Real_Fly, Meloni’s government has allowed an excess of 50,000 illegal aliens into Italy so far in 2023. 

The user tweeted on July 15, 2023, “YEAR TO DATE MELONI’S ANTI IMMIGRATION REGIME HAS PERMITTED IN EXCESS OF 50,000 ILLEGAL MIGRANTS INTO ITALY — 4X 2022 ARRIVALS.” 

Despite being elected on a platform to stop mass migration coming from the Middle East and North Africa, it appears that the Meloni government is wavering in this respect. Moreover, Meloni’s government is now looking at expanding legal immigration from non-European Union countries. 

Last week, Meloni’s government announced that it would issue 425,000 work permits to non-EU nationals between 2023 and 2025. The rationale behind this move was to fill in supposed gaps in the labor market. This argument is frequently used by mass migration boosters in countries such as the United States to justify continuous expansions in the migrant labor pool. In reality, this is just another ploy to bring in more cheap labor that depresses Western working class wages while enriching oligarchs. 

The Italian government has recently pressed the EU to take stronger collective action to protect Europe’s external borders, which includes pushing for deals with North African nations to halt departures and facilitate repatriation. Since the start of 2023, roughly 70,000 migrants and asylum seekers have reached Italy by boat, compared to just below 31,000 irregular arrivals in the same time period in 2023. 

Overall, right-wing populists in Europe should think twice about supporting politicians who claim to be populists but align themselves with the Anglosphere-oriented vision of multiculturalism and non-stop intervention abroad. Meloni is one of these politicians who merits massive distrust and should ultimately be replaced with a real populist candidate.

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