Over 7 in 10 Italians Demand Deportation of Illegal Migrants

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Right Patriots
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More than seven in ten Italian voters believe illegal immigrants should be deported and returned to their homeland, as a pro-borders consensus appears to be finally developing in Europe.

According to a survey conducted by Euromedia Research, 73 percent of the Italian public believe illegals should be removed from the country.

The poll also found that 57 percent of voters in Italy view illegal immigration as mostly negative, compared to just 14 percent who saw it as a positive development.

73 PERCENT OF ITALIANS SUPPORT DEPORTING ILLEGAL MIGRANTS

Euromedia Research director Alessandra Ghisleri said there is broad agreement, across political lines, on the idea that illegal arrivals must be firmly managed. A significant portion of the centre-left electorate also shares this view, according to Il Giornale reporting.

Nearly eight in ten Italians viewed the stability of the Mediterranean as critical to their own country’s economic and security future.

Of those surveyed, 34 percent saw controlling immigration at sea as the most pressing issue and the greatest risk to regional stability.

Ghisleri said that while energy is the second most important concern, adding together migration flows, conflicts, and political instability, it clearly emerges that Italians’ real concern is the overall security of the Mediterranean and Middle East.

Italy, like other European nations along the Mediterranean, saw a major increase in migrants setting sail in often dangerously unseaworthy vessels from the coasts of Northern African countries like Libya, where people-smuggling networks operate.

Often, the migrants are only given enough fuel to make half of the journey to Europe, as human traffickers have become aware that pro-open borders NGO ships will come to their rescue and bring them the rest of the way for them.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has seen some success in reducing the number of illegals crossing the Mediterranean during her first term in office by negotiating EU-level deals with the governments of Libya and Tunisia, incentivising them to clamp down on the people-smuggling groups.

Yet, migrant boats have continued to set off, and deportation efforts have been outpaced by arrivals, with around six thousand removals compared to over 66,000 illegal arrivals.

While both numbers have improved under Meloni’s government, with arrivals nearly cut in half and removals nearly doubled, the continued disparity has left room on the Italian political right for demands for further action.

This has led to the formation of a new political party, National Future, formed by a retired Army general and a former member of Deputy PM Matteo Salvini’s League party, who broke away in February.

The general has called for a remigration agenda and for better incentives for native Italians to have more children. However, the breakaway party has so far only called for the removal of illegals, criminals, and those who fail to integrate into Italian culture.

His position is only supported by 36.8 percent of voters according to the Euromedia Research poll, compared to 44.4 percent who disagree and 56.8 percent who think the proposals are impractical.

Yet, with the upstart party rising in the polls, National Future climbing to six percent and surpassing Salvini’s League at 5.6 percent, the new party may split the right-wing vote in next year’s elections, either forcing Meloni into making a deal or potentially seeing the right-wing bloc lose power altogether.

Meloni will likely hope to solidify her position on migration by using third-party deportation hubs, a policy her government spearheaded and finally won European Union approval for last month.

By immediately sending illegals to a third-party country outside of the EU, like Albania, Rome and others will hope to disincentivise further illegal crossings.

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