Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: Alessandro SERRANO / AFP 19:01 p.m., September 22, 2023

In order not to be sent to a detention centre while their appeal is being examined, migrants whose right to asylum has been rejected in Italy will have to pay a deposit of 5,000 euros. This financial guarantee of 4,938 euros was described as a "ransom" by the left-leaning daily La Repubblica.

Migrants rejected from the right of asylum in Italy will have to pay a bail of 5,000 euros under penalty of being sent to a detention center while their appeal is examined, provides a decree published in the official journal, prompting the condemnation of the left-wing opposition on Friday. This financial guarantee of 4,938 euros precisely, described as a "ransom" by the left-leaning daily La Repubblica, is supposed to cover the costs of housing and living expenses for a person for one month, as well as the cost of his repatriation in case of definitive rejection of his application.

It will be required of persons who have tried to evade border controls as well as those coming from a so-called "safe" country and who, in principle, are therefore not eligible for asylum. If the applicant "disappears unduly", the bond he has paid will be charged, the text says.

"Institutional human trafficking"

The measure was harshly criticized by the left. "On immigration, the government had already lost face, it is now losing its dignity by filling the [state's] coffers on the backs and despair of people," said Democratic lawmaker Emiliano Fossi. "Institutional human trafficking," lashed out at Riccardo Magi, national secretary of the centrist Europa party. This decree appears just a few days after the announcement of the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni of its intention to increase to 18 months the maximum period of detention of rejected applicants, against 40 days renewable at present (138 days maximum).

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The executive intends to dissuade departures from North Africa and prevent the Italian authorities from being legally forced to release foreigners subject to a deportation decision if the expulsion procedure has not been completed within the time limit. Since September 11, Italy has recorded more than 15,000 arrivals of migrants from North African shores to its coasts, most of them landing on the island of Lampedusa, whose reception facilities have been overwhelmed. Since the beginning of the year, their number is nearly 130,000, against 68,200 in 2022 over the same period, according to the Ministry of the Interior.