When in Rome, do because the Romans do.
And that’s to ship unlawful immigrants someplace else.
Gov. Maura Healey ought to take discover.
In Italy’s case it’s to ship them throughout the Adriatic Sea to Albania the place they are going to be held till they’re processed and doubtlessly despatched again to the place they got here from.
And that place is Libya, the place fortunes are made sending immigrants from Africa and the Mideast who’ve flocked there in search of sea passage to Italy. Once there they pay smugglers to ferry them on usually rickety boats throughout the Mediterranean Sea to Italy.
Italy, like the remainder of Europe—to not point out the United States—has been overwhelmed with unlawful immigrants. Unlike the U.S., nevertheless, European nations have begun to crack down on unlawful immigration.
Once in Italy, a gateway to the remainder of Europe, the unlawful immigrants, below European Union laws, are secure from instant deportation and are allowed to use for asylum. Italy is a member of the European Union.
So, below the conservative management of Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, a plan was hatched to intercept the immigrants on the excessive seas and ship them to Albania, a non-EU member, earlier than they will set foot on Italian soil.
There, below settlement with Albanian Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama, as much as 36,000 immigrants a 12 months will likely be outsourced to Albania and housed in two facilities within the northern Albanian ports of Shengjim and Gjader, removed from the spectacular Albanian Riviera alongside the southern coast.
The Italian authorities will construct the 2 facilities the place asylum requests will likely be processed. No pregnant girls or minors will likely be despatched to the camps. The Albanian authorities will present safety.
No point out of how a lot cash Italy pays Albania within the deal.
The controversial Meloni plan permits Italy to dodge EU laws that states that the primary nation wherein migrants arrive should look after them and course of their instances. The Meloni plan seems to be a model of former President Donald Trump’s stay in Mexico coverage that President Joe Biden thrashed when he turned president.
“This is a historic achievement,” a prime Meloni aide with the great identify of Giovanbattista Fazzolari, stated.
Historic or not, it’s indicative of Europe’s rising concern with unlawful immigration. Hardly had the Meloni/Rama deal been introduced than six EU nations—the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia Austria and Germany– agreed to tighten their border safety. .
In the Netherlands, Gert Wilder’s anti-immigration Freedom Party completed first in final week’s parliamentary elections in one other signal of Europe’s shift to the best on immigration. And Finland shut down its border with Russia.
While the European unlawful immigration downside is severe, it pales in significance to what’s occurring within the U.S. Where Europe talks of 1000’s of unlawful immigrants flattening the doorways, the U.S. talks of thousands and thousands.
Massachusetts, like city states elsewhere within the nation, is overwhelmed with unlawful immigrants and is in a quandary what to do about them.
Since no political chief within the state has the braveness to speak about sending immigrants again to the place they got here from to allow them to pursue authorized entry, maybe a Meloni resolution needs to be thought of.
Massachusetts, like Italy, may have an Albania, or possibly two– locations the place migrants might be housed and vetted, and their asylum purposes processed. It may very well be a state-run model of what Ellis Island as soon as was.
This is to not recommend that Healey work out a cope with Albania, the best way Meloni did. Albania is just too far-off.
Besides there are numerous uninhabited islands in Boston Harbor that may very well be became camps to accommodate, feed and course of the immigrants, to not point out camps or current accommodations and motels on Nantucket an Martha’s Vineyard.
It was Martha’s Vineyard, in any case, the place individuals have been so sort and receptive when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flew in a few planeloads of Venezuelan immigrants in 2022.
The warm-hearted islanders processed them so quick that they have been whisked off the island in 36 hours. Perhaps they will help out once more.
Rome might have the answer. So, Healey ought to say basta and rent Giovanbattista Fazzolari instantly. Who higher?
Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”