To implement the European asylum reform, the government intends to make virtually the entire coast of the Italian peninsula and Sicily a "border zone." This will translate into hotspot centers and deprivation of liberty for asylum seekers throughout the country, starting with the cities where NGO search-and-rescue vessels have arrived in recent years in the Mediterranean, as part of the government's distant ports policy. The new European Pact on Migration and Asylum provides for border "detention," already partially envisaged in the 2018 Salvini decree, implementing a new and additional form of detention for those awaiting a decision on their asylum applications.
It is important to build opposition to these plans, seeking to coordinate the organizations most affected by the government's racist and repressive plans.
Long-standing rumors are confirmed by a circular from the Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration of the Ministry of the Interior dated September 9, 2025, addressed to numerous prefectures: Agrigento, Ancona, Bari, Brindisi, Catania, Chieti, Genoa, Livorno, Massa-Carrara, Milan, Naples, Ravenna, Reggio Calabria, Rome, Salerno, Syracuse, Taranto, Trieste, Varese, and Vibo Valentia.
Last September, the circular invited these prefectures to identify suitable areas within their provinces for the construction of facilities for screening operations and for hosting asylum seekers undergoing border procedures. The document specifies that these facilities may be set up in prefabricated modules.
The document indicates that the department was conducting a review of existing facilities, both for the identification of those entering the country considered illegal and for hosting asylum seekers undergoing "border procedures." This initiative is linked to the implementation of the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum, which will come into force on June 12.
The circular indicates that to comply with the obligations introduced by the new European regulations, Italy will need to have 8,016 "reception" places to carry out border procedures. To reach this capacity, it was envisaged to utilize existing CAS and create 2,270 places, 270 of which would be reserved for "detention." This would be achieved through a review of the "border zones" and the possibility of locating these facilities in areas far from "external borders" and "transit zones." For this reason, in September, the Interministerial Coordination Committee established within the Department was considering revising the organization of the border zones. The idea was to establish 12 new zones, specifically targeting those where shipwrecked migrants rescued by NGO ships are forced to arrive. These would be added to the existing 17 zones, from which the Department, however, was considering removing Cosenza, Matera, and Southern Sardinia.
At the time of writing, the text of the bill approved by the Council of Ministers on February 11th is not yet available. However, based on the new European regulations, it is possible to understand what will change. As is already partially the case, asylum seekers will be subjected to thorough screening procedures upon arrival, including identification and biometric data registration, and will be sent to either standard or accelerated procedures, depending on their country of origin. A significant portion of asylum seekers will be directed to the latter procedure. It will concern both those whose asylum applications are deemed "unfounded" and those from countries considered "safe." "Safe" countries will be defined based on purely statistical criteria: those coming from countries with an asylum acceptance rate in the EU for their citizens of less than or equal to 20% will be assigned to the accelerated procedure, which reduces guarantees and access to legal information. Those following this procedure would be subject to detention or restrictions on their freedom, and in any case, they would be required to stay in the assigned border zone for up to three months, the deadline set for completing the accelerated procedure.
To understand what these centers will be like, perhaps we can look at the facilities that most anticipated these policies, the centers on the Aegean islands, which have been active for five years now: the CCACs, or Controlled Access Closed Centers, generously funded by the EU, where asylum seekers are forced to live while waiting for their applications to be processed. Confined to the islands off the coast of Turkey, inside centers with high-tech surveillance and made of prefabricated modules, people can theoretically leave, but the long lines, the arbitrary nature of the guards, and the malfunctions of the technological cage often mean that it is a veritable detention.
Centers like these, with the form of "detention," which we interpret as "internment," may no longer allow the people they "host" to leave during daylight hours, turning into veritable prisons for asylum seekers, with the loss of almost all guarantees for the people forced to live there.
It's clear that these changes aren't a bolt from the blue; they've been in the making for decades of racist and repressive legislation in Italy, and the new European Pact is fully in line with European policies of recent years, which have made the Greek CCACs a model.
But in the coming months, we could see these processes accelerate. Borders will become a reality even in cities that have never directly addressed similar issues, with the risk of creating a dehumanizing polarization of public debate through the media that could fuel racism and xenophobia. Above all, they will lead to the widespread and normalization of forms of detention, internment, and confinement for asylum seekers. Furthermore, with laws that increasingly close borders, border violence, now widespread throughout the country, will significantly increase.
Within a month, perhaps a little more, the government will want to begin building these centers; it's important to rally opposition wherever possible. This is why it's important to relaunch the fight against state racism, against all forms of detention and internment, and for freedom of movement for all.
Dario Antonelli
https://umanitanova.org/nuovi-hotspot-in-tutto-il-paese-il-governo-rinchiude-i-richiedenti-asilo/
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Link: (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #9-26 - New hotspots across the country. The government detains asylum seekers. (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]
Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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