Maybe you are looking for a topic to discuss during these days of lunches and dinners with friends. You could start from a statement by Minister Matteo Salvini: “Italy is the paradise of foreign criminals”. First question: when does this phrase date back? Answer: August 2016. And who was prime minister then? Many of you will remember him: Matteo Renzi. The funny thing, so to speak, is that this declaration is like certain palindrome words: they can be read in both senses. In fact, Matteo Renzi could say the same sentence today towards Salvini. Or, by virtue of our equidistance towards the parties, we can safely say that Giorgia Meloni’s government – of which Salvini is vice-president of the Council – is not doing better than what Matteo Renzi did ten years ago on the issues of immigration, repatriations and work. Let’s see the numbers. And also why.

Only one in five illegal immigrants has been repatriated

In the first nine months of 2025, the Meloni government actually repatriated 3,510 people (Eurostat source, figure below): an average of 390 irregular foreigners brought home every month. In 2024 the monthly average stopped at 373 people, out of an annual total of 4,480. And in 2023, to 275. In 2016, when Matteo Renzi was prime minister, Italy repatriated 485 people a month. Rise from 533 to 544 in the following three years. Very little compared to the annual number of landings. And of illegal foreigners affected by expulsion orders. In 2025, the Ministry of the Interior recorded an average of around 5,500 people disembarked each month (out of a total of 65,906, as of 24 December) and 1,772 expulsion decrees issued monthly (out of a total in the first nine months of 2025 of 15,955).

This year, a number of people equivalent to 22 percent of those found without valid documents were therefore repatriated. It means that 4 out of 5 people get away with it (again in the figure above, the comparison with Germany, France and even Cyprus is dramatic). Among the irregulars there are not only carers, labourers, domestic workers, students forced to work illegally by the complicated rules for regularisation, many of which were introduced by Salvini himself when he was in government with the 5 Star Movement: the famous security decrees, which in reality have the effect of making both the work and the lives of all of us less safe. Among those who remain on our territory, there are in fact also hardened criminals and those convicted of serious crimes for whom, during the years of incarceration, the governments of today and then have never managed to arrange repatriation procedures with their countries of origin.

“We will kick out half a million illegal immigrants”

Yet Salvini, during the winter 2018 election campaign, even proposed the expulsion of half a million illegal immigrants: as many of you will remember, he considered the unattainable proposal of his party colleague, Attilio Fontana, to repatriate “only” 100 thousand irregular immigrants as far too do-gooder. The result of this failure – due to the continuous ideological approach to the immigration (and work) issue – can be seen in our Citynews editorial offices, present everywhere in Italy, through news cases such as thefts, robberies, rapes: those whose protagonists are convicted criminals who, despite their criminal records, had never been repatriated.

In many Italian places – in the big cities, but also in the most remote provinces – there has been a lot of talk in recent months about maranza: that form of neighborhood and town crime, which is uniting Italian and foreign teenagers, or those of foreign descent, in acts of blood, robberies, rapes. Groups armed with knives and characterized by gratuitous violence, which are inspired by the model of the French banlieues.

“Maranza” risk and remedies: what to do as soon as possible

After a serious robbery in the center of Milan during Christmas shopping, the mother of one of the minor victims wrote these words to Corriere della Sera: “Then there is the burning issue, which I cannot ignore: yes, they were all foreign boys, except the girl. It is evidence that I always try to handle with caution, as a woman who rejects discrimination, who believes in welcoming, integrating and helping the most vulnerable. But today I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t hypocrisy to deny that in Milan the phenomenon of the so-called ‘maranza’ is becoming a real social emergency.” And not just in Milan.

In a few days the news will tell us that landings have decreased compared to 2023 and in line with those of 2024. But, as in the past, we will never know if it is thanks to the government in office and other contributing factors. And in any case 65 thousand people to welcome, largely without any training or knowledge of the language, represent a significant burden compared to, for example, twenty years ago. When the 22 thousand landings in 2005 still seemed like an unsurpassable record.

Thousands fleeing from Italy: I’ll tell you about the new life of “expats” – by Daniele Tempera

Instead, it would be time to eliminate the failing strategies, such as the useless costs (690 million) for the repatriation centers set up by the Italian government in Albania. And start again from the beginning: with a plan that involves the ministries of Foreign Affairs (for the agreements with the countries of origin necessary for the repatriation of criminals, but also for the training of future emigrants), Labor (to streamline the rules of regular entry and align the number of permits with the real needs of our economy), Education (to train new citizens, starting from the Italian language, on professions and study paths), Economy (more regular workers also means more contributions for healthcare and pensions). Instead we persevere in considering immigration, just as Matteo Salvini does, a matter for the Ministry of the Interior. Despite the fact that, in all these decades, with all colors in government, the Interior Ministry has demonstrated that it cannot have the culture or even the skills necessary to address the issue at its root.

Read Fabrizio Gatti’s editorials and investigations