When Public And Private Companies Take Care Of The Migrant Business

Antoniomazzeo.blogspot.it – The millions of Euros circulating in the migrant “welcoming” business in Italy are not only handed over to pseudo-cooperatives and fake non-profits, but even a construction company and a publicly limited company entirely in government ownership. This much can be gleaned from the “Report on the Working of the Reception System Established for Dealing with the Extraordinary Needs Connected to the Exceptional Arrival of Foreigner Citizens into National Territory (2015)”, presented on 13 March 2017 to the President of the Senate of the Republic by the Minister of the Interior.

The Extraordinary Reception of Unaccompanied Minors: The Ragusa Prefecture Looks to Open New Centres

At the end of July, the Chamber of Deputies approved the legislation of a new decree related to urgent financial measures, proposing “extraordinary measures for the reception of unaccompanied foreign minors”. These emergency measures have a a decidedly unconstitutional aspect, as ASGI* has also observed in an open letter, and which practically gives a free reign for the creation of new Extraordinary Reception Centres (CAS*) for unaccompanied minors.

The CARA* at Mineo once again at the centre of investigations. And the numbers present continue to rise.

The investigations into the CARA* at Mineo, within the remit of “Mafia Capitale”, is producing new subpoenas for fraudulent misrepresentation and serious fraud, including the falsification of the number of migrants at the centre. The number has continued to rise in recent weeks, with new transfers following on from the disembarkings, not only at the ports of Catania and Augusta, but also Pozzallo, Trapani and Reggio Calabria. At the time of writing, the building houses around 3,500 people and explicitly carries out all the identification and selection procedures pertaining to the Hotspot approach, and seems also to be used as a Hub, given recent mass transferrals of Eritreans who have been agreed to relocation. It is thus simultaneous a location under investigation and also entrusted with a range of new functions, occurrences not only with no clear juridical regulation but, above all, even without pertaining to the duty of protecting migrants' rights. It is a ghetto in the middle of nowhere, outside of which, week after week, the army and police forces multiply.

On 24th August, the delegation of LasciateCIEntrare visited the CARA* of Mineo

Along the access road to the centre are many dilapidated houses in the fields. For some time, it has been witnessed that there are often women from Nigeria living in the centre prostituting themselves.

We meet young people on bicycles or walking; they are going to the surrounding villages, which are far from the centre. The reception centre of Mineo is visible from afar. From the outside it looks like an urban suburb district with its multi-coloured two-storied single-family homes; the same as those in the Sigonella military base for American officers. Everything is fenced, but, already visible from the outside, we discover some "Villette-Bazaars". Within the centre, a few migrants run real shops with clothes and food. (It would have been desirable to check how the distribution of rooms and houses is handled, because all the houses are used apparently as minimarkets, but we didn’t get the permission). This actuates an underground economy: for some it means debt, for others enrichment.

Hearing of Doctors For Human Rights at the parliamentary commission of inquiry concerning reception centres for migrants

Medu – The first months of 2015 have been characterized by the rekindling of the discussion on the immigration issue and the sustainability of the current reception system. Episodes of corruption, like those solved by Mafia Capitale, and the high number of migrants arriving via sea impose the constant monitoring of residing conditions as well as of the efficiency of the facilities that are currently prepared to welcome migrants. For this reason, today Doctors For Human Rights (MEDU) carried out a hearing at the parliamentary commission of inquiry concerning the reception system as well as the identification and the detention of migrants, considering the constant presence of the organization within the CARA* of Mineo, which is the facility that hosts the largest number of migrants in Europe.  

The bodies at the bottom of the ocean are not part of the market

The latest shameful episode in Europe's immigration system concerns the treatment of those who have lost their lives at sea. According to Salvi, the public prosecutor, the 900 bodies from recent tragedies will not be recuperated from the sea due to the high costs of such an operation. The problem has instead been passed on to the government, which, with its standard hypocrisy, has stated, "everything that can be done will be done in order to try and recuperate the bodies of our brothers and sisters," ( Renzi, Prime Minister). First we kill them and then we let them rot at the bottom of the sea, erasing all traces of any wrongdoing, convinced that any memories of innocent lives will also disappear from our consciousness.