Italy adopts controversial security decree aiming to deport more migrants

The Italian government on Monday adopted a heavilycriticized security decree, which will make it easier to expel migrants and strip them of Italian citizenship.

The new bill is “a step forward to make Italy safer,” farright Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Facebook.

It will help Italy “be stronger in the fight against the mafia and [people] smugglers, reduce the costs of excessive immigration, expel delinquents and fake refugees, strip terrorists of citizenship, [and] give the police greater powers,” Salvini said.

Parliament has 60 days to debate, amend and vote on the bill before President Sergio Mattarella signs it into law.

Salvini said the decree streamlines the rules for processing asylum requests and brings Italy into line with other EU countries.

Humanitarian protection will be awarded based on six strict criteria. These include whether there was an urgent medical need or if the applicant was the victim of a natural disaster, Salvini said.

He said around a quarter of those who have applied for asylum in recent years in Italy have been given humanitarian protection, which is a provisional status.

Those seeking refugee status will have their requests suspended if they are “considered socially dangerous or convicted in the first instance” of crimes, while their appeals are ongoing.

They will in future be housed in bigger reception centers, while minors and those with recognized refugee status will be housed in different parts of the country in order to facilitate integration.

The new law also lets police have Taser guns and makes it easier to evict squatters by getting rid of the obligation of finding provisional housing for the most vulnerable.

The controversial bill has been heavily criticized in recent weeks, including by members of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement which governs in coalition with Salvini’s far-right League.