ROME — Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has declared war on people smugglers pushing illegal migration, promising prison terms of up to 30 years.
Saying she intends to “send out the message that it does not pay to enter Italy illegally,” Meloni declared that her administration is going on offense, pledging to hunt down human traffickers “around the globe.”
Italy’s first female prime minister delivered her remarks Friday at a special meeting of her cabinet in the Calabrian town of Cutro, the site of a recent shipwreck that resulted in the deaths of 72 mostly Middle Eastern migrants.
The fatal voyage was part of an ongoing scheme by smugglers to ferry migrants across the Mediterranean Sea into Italy, and Italian police immediately arrested and charged one alleged human trafficker found among the survivors of the shipwreck. Authorities later detained two more men in connection with the operation.
The three arrested were a Turkish man and two Pakistani nationals, who reportedly charged the migrants some €8,000 each to make the journey from Turkey to Calabria.
The immensely popular Meloni was greeted with enthusiastic applause and waving flags as she made her way through the southern Italian town.
“Our response to what happened is a policy of greater firmness on the ground,” Meloni said, adding that Italy would act against both traffickers on the water and those in third countries who organize the trips.
The prime minister also said that countries that educate their citizens about the risks of using criminal networks to travel to Italy would get preferential quotas for legal migrant workers.
Meloni’s message received support from an unlikely ally in the person of Pope Francis, who sharply criticized the actions of people smugglers ultimately responsible for the recent migrant deaths.
I express my sorrow “for the tragedy that took place in the waters of Cutro, near Crotone,” Pope Francis said last Sunday following his weekly Angelus address. “I am praying for the numerous victims of the shipwreck, for their relatives and for those who survived.”
“Let the human traffickers be stopped so they do not continue to dispose of the lives of so many innocent people!” the pontiff urged.
“May the journeys of hope never more be transformed into journeys of death,” he continued. “May the clear waters of the Mediterranean never more be bloodied by such tragic accidents!”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.