Immigration in Italy: Between Economic Acceptance and Political Rejection

1. Immigration in Italy: Between Economic Acceptance and Political Rejection Maurizio Ambrosini, university of Milano Director of the review “Mondi Migranti”

2. Two Concepts: • Reluctant importers: a conflict between the market and politics ? • The Mediterranean (or Southern European) model of immigration regulation: what differences exist between Southern Europe, Central Europe and the United States?

3. Immigration Policy in Italy: A strange continuity • A phenomenon apparently imposed from outside, initially (in the 1980s and early 1990s) seen as unrelated to the labor market. • An implicit link, acknowledged late and with reluctance, with labor demand (from companies and families) • The centrality of amnesties as the main tool of migration policy (6 in 22 years, the last one in September 2009) • A policy of quotas and flow controls: provisional instruments that are used to produce hidden amnesties.

4. The Italian Labor market • Fragmentedproductivestructure, weightof PMI and autonomous work (circa 25% ofthoseemployed) • Importantblack market economy • Stillimportantpresenceofindustry • Profoundterritorialinequality • Unemployment and underemployment, concentratedamong the young, women and the southernregions • Decline and transformationofinternalmigration • High capacityofprotectionfromfamilies • An increase in the levelofinstructionofyouth (3 out of 4 obtainan upper middle school diploma)

5. The insertionofimmigrants in Italy • A spontaneous process, socially constructed « from below» • The condition of undocumented worker as the first step of the migrant’s career in Italy • The importance of ethnic networks and social actors (trade unions, volunteer associations, the Catholic church) • An « economy of Otherness» and a subordinate integration • Ethnic specializations and cognitive stereotypes

6. A geography of insertion • Immigration is concentrated in the more dynamic regions (80% in the six regions of the Center-North) • It is diffused in provincial territories (especially industrial zones) • It finds a place in industry (around 40% of employed immigrants) • It has important irregular components, even in the Center-North • Families employ largely women, both regular and irregular, for domestic and assistance tasks

7. Four territorial models: • Model of diffused industry areas • Model of metropolitan economies • Model of Southern regions • Model of seasonal activity (Center-North)

8. A point of resistence: the code of citizenship and politicalbelonging • The code of citizenship modified in 1992: facilitations for descendents of Italian emigrants; more rapid processing time for Europeans (from 5 to 4 years), and a doubling for third country nationals (from 5 to 10 years) • In 2008, 63% of naturalizations are still granted due to marriage • A familial, almost tribal, conception of national belonging • Granting of the right to vote and to elect their own representatives to Italians living abroad, not resident immigrants living in Italy for years • Conclusion: a functional admission of immigrants as a resource for the economy, not as legitimate members of the national community

9. The fearof the invasion • The connection between “clandestine” immigration and criminality and its political and mediatic exploitation • Italian TV is the first in Europe for the space given to criminal news, murders and so on: Italians think to live in a very insecure country, because of immigration • The government has sent the army to warn the cities, as in times of war • Identification of irregular immigration with landings from the sea, and overestemation of African arrivals

10. The adventof a security rhetoric • Mobilizationsagainst the Roma camps, emergencylegislationfor big cities, requestsforexpulsions and controlsofRomas • The “security package”: irregular stay in Italy as a criminal offence, the requesttohealthofficialstodenounceillegalimmigrants, the “ronde” ofcitizens • The rejectionofabout 900 boat people (potentialasylumseekers) towardsLibya, notwithstanding the protestsof UN and otherinternationalinstitutions • Fewsanctions and light controlsforemployers • Initiativesofcontrol and rejectiontakenbylocalauthorities (e.g. Brescia) • Milano and Lombardy, withVenetia, are the Italianregionswhere the initiativesof public institutionsagainstmigrants are hardest

11. The distancebetweenrethoric and reality • Facedwithabout 500,000 irregularimmigrants , therehavebeen no more than 14,000 expulsions in 2009, and there are only 1,800 places in CentersforIdentification and Expulsionofirregularmigrants • Only 38% ofimmigrantsdetained in the CIE are actuallydeported and the ratioisdeclining in the last years • In September 2009, afterseveralmonth of hard rhetoricagainstillegal migrants and the approval of the « security package » and other bills, the ItalianGovernment has approved an amnesty for migrants working in Italianfamilies, with 300,000 applications • Conclusion: 1 deportedagainst about 20 regularized migrants

12. Multiethnic Milan • Lombardy is the first region for number of resident immigrants (905.000) and for the economic contribution of foreign citizens: 589.867 employees (they are 19,7% of the total), and 66.525 were employed in 2008 • In Milan there are 301.958 immigrant employees. It is the first province for number of immigrant employees and it counts the 10,1% of the total • Its labour market is the more internationalized in the Italian economy • In constructions immigrant workers (taking into account only regular employees) are 43,6%, in domestic services they are about 75% • Milan is the first province for self employment too: 10,3% of the national aggregate amount (about 19.000 out of 187.000) • Foreigner students in schools are 58.000 (151.000 in Lombardy) • Milan is the town where the conflict between the rhetoric of the refusal of the immigration and the reality of practical acceptance is the strongest. • “to become an African town” is the label of a presumed degradation

13. The role of the third sector and the civil society: policies and services • Tradeunions, associations and religiousinstitutionsactaspoliticalactors, and theyaskforamnesties • Theyalsoofferservicesto help individualswithregularizationprocedures • Manyservices (asmeals, health care) , especiallyforundocumentedimmigrants, are providedbynonprofit and religiousorganizations • Lessons and courses in Italianarrangedbytheseorganizations welcome undocumentedimmigrantstoo • ManyNGOs are committedtoprojectsforunaccompainedchildren and women victims of trafficking , alsothanksto public funds • In Milan and Lombardy, thisroleis more developed, partlybecauseof the hostility or at least of the reluctance of public institutions to involve themselves in immigrant s’ integration

14. Advocacy • In recent years in Milan some organizations who collaborate with churches and trade unions have been the protagonists of legal battles against the discriminatory policies of local authorities (Association “Lawyers for nothing") • Doctors’ associations have been fighting against the rules that wanted to force the medical staff of public hospitals to denounce undocumented immigrants: "We will not ever do it" • Evictions of Roma settlements in Milan are the subject of recurring controversy among NGOs and local governments • The Archbishop of Milan has repeatedly called for major openness to immigrants and for the recognition of worship ‘s freedom for Muslims, becoming the target of explicit critics by pro-government newspapers and the leaders of Lega Nord • The centre-right politicians often claim to be the champions of Christian traditions, in contrast with the leaders of the Catholic Church

15. Conclusion • Italy is experiencing a great tension: it is becoming a multi-ethnic society, it employs an increasing number of immigrants, but it would reject this change • The political forces who are in office take advantage of these feelings and feed them • Campaigns against illegal immigrants and the link constructed between immigration and crime support this strategy • Churches, trade unions, NGOs constitute a pro-immigrant lobby that fight against this rhetoric and provides many services to migrants, including undocumented immigrants • The anti-immigration policy contradicts itself implementing amnesties, tolerating the underground economy, neglecting the investments necessary for the implementation of expulsions • The pro-immigrant lobby has to face increasing problems of legitimacy that come from its social base, which is influenced by the xenophobic rhetoric