Migrants Refusing Coronavirus Tests to Avoid Deportation from Italy

A medical worker shows a Covid-19 rapid antigen test, in the test area at Malpensa Airport
PIERO CRUCIATTI/AFP via Getty Images
Chris Tomlinson

Illegal migrants in Italy are refusing to undergo coronavirus tests to avoid being deported, because they won’t be put on a flight without the test.

Riccardo De Corato, a member of the national-conservative Brother of Italy (FdI) and Councilor for Security of Lombardy, explained that migrants convicted of serious crimes could go free and avoid deportation by refusing the coronavirus test.

“It happens that people who are scheduled for deportation after committing crimes such as robbery and rape, can for free after 120 days,” De Corato told Il Giornale.

According to the Italian newspaper, the number of deportations has slowed in one deportation centre from an average of five or six per day since January to around two per month. Only migrants who wish to leave and those who come from countries that do not require tests can be deported.

“It is clear that this trick is now known by those in the detention centre. Everyone uses it because they know that there is no law that obliges them to undergo the swab,” De Corato said.

Italy is just the latest country to see migrants refuse to take the coronavirus test to avoid returning to their home countries.

Last month in France, an illegal migrant from Guinea refused a test. He was then taken to court, as refusing to leave French territory when ordered is a criminal offence.

The judge sentenced the migrant to three months of administrative detention. The migrant will be asked at the end of the sentence to retake the test, with the judge telling him that if he refuses the test again, he will simply go back to detention for another three months, and the cycle will repeat until he leaves France.

In Sweden, the trend has been seen since at least May, and in one case, an Afghan convicted child rapist was able to avoid deportation by refusing to be tested.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com

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