Italy's Northern League pledges mass migrant deportations
Source: The Guardian
Italy's Northern League pledges mass migrant deportations
Analysts doubt viability of far-right plan but it highlights nature of pre-election debate
Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome
Mon 19 Feb 2018 09.31 GMT
Italys far-right Northern League has promised to introduce mass deportations of asylum seekers to Africa as part of a radical reshaping of migration policies if it wins next months elections.
The party, led by Matteo Salvini, would also seek to force asylum courts to disregard the circumstances of a migrants journey in any deliberation about whether they should be granted asylum.
With Italians going to the polls on 4 March, and in the aftermath of an , rhetoric on the right has increasingly focused on migration and Italys role as the point of arrival for hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Africa.
The government, currently led by the centre-left Democratic party, has recently taken controversial steps to sharply reduce the number of migrant arrivals, including allegedly making secret agreements with militias and tribes in Libya that have been condemned by human rights groups.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/19/italys-northern-league-pledges-mass-migrant-deportations