ITALY | The criminalization of irregular immigration: law and practice in Italy Alberto di Martino - Francesca Biondi Dal Monte - Ilaria Boiano - Rosa Raffaelli Executive summary This report presents the main findings of a research project that lasted almost two years and that has been financed by the Open Society Foundations. Our work on irregular immigration has been triggered by allegations of shabby detention conditions in the Centers for Identification and Expulsion (CIEs), where irregular immigrants may be detained before their expulsion, as well as by the awareness that the Italian system for the removal/expulsion of irregularly staying third-country nationals is not in line with the EU Returns Directive (Directive 2008/115). Indeed, it did not comply with the Directive at the time when we begun working on this issue, and it is still not in line with it, even after the Court of Justice declared such incompatibility (with its decision in El Dridi) and the law was amended with a view to ensure compliance. The length of the project testifies of the frequent changes in national immigration law – a field of law which is always evolving. The report thus presents a snapshot of the legal framework concerning the treatment of irregular immigration in Italian, European and international law at the time of publication (end of 2012). Its main purpose, however, is not just to analyze existing legislation, but to focus on the everyday practice of Italian enforcement authorities, to check whether they actually comply with existing legislation. Our main finding, which we can already anticipate here, is that, on the one hand, Italian legislation concerning irregular immigration does not comply with constitutional, European and international requirements; on the other hand, the day-to-day practice of immigration enforcement authorities does not even comply with Italian law. Finally, we also attempted to evaluate the costs of the management of irregular immigration, and we came to the conclusion that, even from a strictly economical point of view, the existing system is both ineffective and inefficient. The focus of the report is on the system of expulsion. Indeed, the Italian immigration system, seemingly in line with the Returns Directive, is based mainly on expulsions: irregular immigrants are subjected to removal/expulsion, and may be detained for up to 18 months (6 months plus exceptionally an additional 12) in the Centers for Identification and Expulsion (CIE). �������� The criminalization of irregular immigration: law and practice in Italy This system, however, although it might seem to comply with the Returns Directive, is clearly not in line with it; moreover, we identified a number of additional problems, both legal and practical. The full report can be read in the pdf link below. wiss-lab.dirpolis.sssup.it/files/2013/05/Libro-dirpolis-1.pdf
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 21:45:46 +0000
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