Almost 5,000 euros are intended to cover costs for accommodation, living expenses and the costs of a possible repatriation. Refugees should pay the money to the Italian government.
In the future, Italy will require rejected refugees to pay a deposit of almost 5,000 euros in order not to be taken into custody pending deportation while their appeal is being examined. A decree published in the Official Journal provides for the financial guarantee of 4,938 euros to cover the costs of accommodation and living expenses for a person for one month, but also the costs of repatriation in the event of a final rejection of the application.
The sum should be demanded from people who have tried to circumvent border controls. However, it also affects people who come from a “safe” country and are therefore fundamentally not entitled to asylum. If the asylum seeker disappears “unjustifiedly,” the deposit will be withheld. Left-wing politicians sharply criticized the measure.
Almost twice as many refugees arrived in Italy in 2022
The decree was published just days after an announcement by the government under ultra-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that it would increase the maximum length of detention pending deportation for rejected asylum seekers to 18 months.
According to figures from the Interior Ministry, around 130,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year, which is already almost twice as many as in the whole of 2022. Since Monday last week, Italy has registered more than 15,000 refugees arriving from the North African coasts. Many of them arrived on the island of Lampedusa, just 145 kilometers north of Tunisia.
