In the first two months of
2016, 7,892 migrants have arrived on Italian shores, said Vice
Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Erasmo Palazzotto
on Monday during a press conference on migrant hotspots.
Although the total number of migrants was nearly identical
to that of the first two months of 2015 (7,758), there were
1,588 more irregular migrants in 2016, totaling 5,254 overall.
Of those, the data show that 2,355 have effectively left
Italian territory, while the location of 2,897 other irregular
migrants who weren't repatriated is unknown.
Palazzotto said the system of hotspots for migrant
registration in Italy, proposed and supported by the European
Commission, "is a complete failure".
"It only responds to the need to show the EU that something
is being done," Palazzotto said at a conference on hotspots in
Palermo.
He said only three of five hotspots are currently active:
Pozzallo, Lampedusa, and Trapani.
"The hotspot system is creating a system of illegalisation
of migrants in Italy," he said.
"In many cases people are classified as economic migrants
only by taking their country of origin and their nationality.
This is a clear violation of the constitutional right to
asylum".
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