EU Urges Members to Deport More Migrants Ineligible to Stay
The National HeraldMar 14, 2023
On Tuesday, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni's government declared a six-month state of emergency backed by €5M (roughly $5.5M) in funding to help the country face a surge in migrants arriving on its southern shores.
The emergency funding comes as Italy has received more than 31K migrants so far this year, compared to roughly 7.9K at this point last year. The money will help Meloni's government set up more migrant reception centers as well as repatriate those not allowed to stay.
Right-wing Meloni isn't the only one calling for a continent-wide effort to deter and deport migrants who are ineligible to stay. EU officials themselves have pointed out that only 21% of ineligible migrants are sent back to their home countries, and in only 60% of cases do authorities contact those countries regarding repatriation. Italy has faced the brunt of this crisis for years, and it's time the 27-member block step up to help.
While Meloni's government uses tragedy to call for inhumane deportations, the real solution to this issue is investing in safe, legal routes to Italy. So long as these asylum seekers are deemed "illegal immigrants," they will continue to take unofficial, dangerous trips across the sea, leading to more and more preventable deaths.
There's a 2% chance that any of Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and/or Germany will leave the EU before 2027, according to the Metaculus prediction community.