Italian Parliament Endorses Tough Plan To Expel Algerian Illegal Migrants (“Harraga”)

The Italian Parliament on Monday voted in favor of proposals put forth by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Party “Forza Italia” to stop the steady influx of Algerian illegal migrants or “Harraga” into Italy.
The Italian Parliament counted 328 votes in favor of the proposals and only 11 against as part of a new anti-immigration plan designed to tighten control over the “Harraga” activity between Algeria and the southern Italian island of Sardinia, said Mr. Ugo Kabelaci, coordinator of Silvio Berlusconi’s party in Sardinia and a co-sponsor of the newly-adopted proposals meant to beef up immigration control.
According to the latter, financial support was also sought from European bodies, including the European Credit Fund for Africa, to counter the influx of clandestine migrants hailing from Africa towards Sardinia, particularly from Algeria.
The plan also includes, according to the initiative of Ugo Kabelaci, the undertaking to assess and to conduct urgent negotiating initiatives aimed at entering into a bilateral agreement with Algeria to prevent the Algerian “Harraga” or illegal migrants from sailing towards Sardinia and thus protect the borders of the Italian state.
As a recall, a bilateral agreement to combat illegal immigration was signed in 2009 but it has so far not been fully implemented.
The Italian MP underscored in the video directly from the voting hall in the Italian Parliament that from now on, there will be a hard line with the axis of illegal immigration between Algeria and Sardinia, stressing that there will be an intensification of the deportation process of the Algerian “Harraga” disembarking on the Sardinia island.
The same official considered that the young Algerians who arrive in Sardinia have not escaped any war, especially as their numbers have not decreased, but they are doubling from month to month as they are arriving on the southern Italian island almost daily.
In the same context, the Italian news agency reported the arrival of 12 more “Harraga” from Algeria at the island of Sardinia, where they were intercepted on the outskirts of the city of Cagliari and were transferred to the reception center in Monestir in the same city.
A few days ago, Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini announced his visit shortly to Algeria to examine the ins and outs of the burning illegal immigration file with the Algerian authorities, while pledging $ 1 billion Dollars in grants to Maghreb and African countries and supplying them with significant economic aid, provided the latter boosted and expedited the deportation of all their illegal migrants (“Harraga”) from Italian soil.