Having special protection status in Italy can change a person’s destiny. However, policymakers just adopted an act dramatically limiting participation.
The Italian government has passed a disputed law to tighten up on unauthorized immigration. The law, also known as the Cutro decree significantly blocks the kind of special protective status that Italian authorities can give to foreigners who are not eligible for asylum. This happened after the southern Calabrian town where more than 90 people perished in a shipwreck in February.
Since the start of 2023, Italy has tracked more than 42,000 illegal entries. This is about four times the number during the same timeframe in the previous year. The Italian government asserts that the special protection encourages migrants to begin perilous journeys to the state.
“Special protection creates favorable conditions for immigration, and we will remove it,” said Nicola Molteni of the right-wing League party, currently the undersecretary at the Interior Ministry.
Francesco Lollobrigida, the minister of agriculture for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, recently stirred some debate by expressing concern about the “ethnic replacement” of Italians by immigrants, an argument that is mostly viewed as racist.
The special protection prior to the decree
Before the decree, applicants granted special protection status had the following options:
- Residing in Italy for two years,
- Extending their residence permit,
- Eventually converting it into a working permit.
It was offered to persons requesting shelter who,
- ran a possibility of condemnation in their home country,
- escaping war and catastrophic events,
- have close familial ties to Italy,
- had achieved significant levels of financial incorporation there.
The outcome of the new immigration regulations
Everything is different now. According to the new rules:
- The recent legislation curbs access by dealing with conditions based on familial connections or financial status,
- Special protection is still available for those who face assault, severe treatment, or systematically violated fundamental freedoms in their home country. According to Paolo De Stefani, a professor of international law at the University of Padova, “the commission [evaluating residence status] will not take this into account if a person is not in grave danger in their home country but has in the interim started a family or had children in Italy.”,
- Accessibility to special protection will also be prohibited for people escaping from natural catastrophes or requiring medical attention for serious health concerns. Most significantly though, they won’t be able to turn it into a permit for employment,
- The reception sections will no longer offer Legal counsel and language classes,
- The situation for minors who are alone will also alter. They can keep the special protection permits for an additional year. Further, they cannot change them into work permits before they reach 18. De Stefani added, “This means killing the chances of integration for people coming to Italy at a very young age.” What kind of educational route will people with such prospects envision?
- The law allows forced marriage victims a new opportunity to request special protection, compared to the statute’s typically restrictive form.
Future anxiety among migrants
The new laws will not be applicable to people who currently get benefits or who previously applied for special protection, but many think that the condition for migrants has gotten tougher.
Less special protection, greater susceptibility
With the exception of 2018–2020, when it was briefly discontinued by the former interior minister Matteo Salvini, Italy has always offered extra protection.
Despite statements to the contrary from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Italy is not the only nation that provides this kind of security. While the description is different, 18 other European countries offer comparable specific protections.
Opponents warn that limiting the availability of special protection will force more migrants into an illegal existence and deprive vulnerable people of their basic liberties. This is particularly relevant given that Italy last month declared a six-month state of emergency in order to stop the flow of migrants, and another decree restricts the work of charitable rescue ships that cruise the Mediterranean.
The bill will hurt local societies where immigrants have started to establish a life and contribute to the socioeconomic fabric, according to Valeria Carlini, a spokesman for the Italian Council for Refugees.
Professor of law De Stefani thinks that the act eventually hampers integration, particularly for undocumented immigrants, and seeks to stop migration flows temporarily. People in Italy will eventually seek out other European nations for greater security and living standards because of the worsening conditions there, he predicted.
In order to address migratory flows, Meloni has called for greater solidarity and improved cooperation among EU member states, much like most of her prior authorities.
De Stefani stated, “This regulation might be interpreted as the most recent effort to coerce Europe into taking migration concerns seriously, but it is gambling with the lives of someone else.