Italian Opposition Party Demands Expulsion of Dangerous Immigrants

Silvio Berlusconi urged that Italy immediately close its border to Romanians as the public outcry over a growing crime wave becomes more intense. An ally then called for the immediate expulsion of tens of thousands of Romanian immigrants.

Italian authorities say statistics show foreigners commit a disproportionate number of crimes in Italy, and Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said 75 per cent of arrests in the city in the last year involved Romanians.

I'm sure they're the victims of racial profiling.

The article mentions authorities began preparing emergency expulsion orders or in some cases expelling EU citizens with criminal records. For it to stick, the parliament will have to approve the directive from the Italian cabinet, where Prime Minister Prodi's party holds a narrow majority.

Several high profile crimes which have been covered by the media have created sufficient public outrage to make it possible. The rape of a woman on the steps of a church in northern Italy, the mugging death of a cyclist in Rome, and the robbery of a coffee shop in Milan where the elderly owner was savagely beaten and his daughter raped, all crimes where suspects detained are Romanians.

But the one that pushed them to the edge was the beating and murder of the wife of an Italian naval officer. A Romanian immigrant, Nicolae Romulus Mailat, has been arrested in connection with the murder. Raped, robbed, beaten with a rock and dumped in a ditch, Giovanna Reggiani died two days after her attack.

On the national level, figures from Italy's statistics bureau found that, while less than 5 per cent of the population in 2004 were foreigners, foreigners accounted for 26 per cent of all those convicted, although the report cautioned that immigrants were less likely to obtain adequate legal defence.

Patterico has been beating this drum for a while now at Hot Air, covering crimes in the U.S. committed by illegal immigrants. I wrote about a sickeningly violent assault on a teenage girl in Central Texas by two illegal immigrants here.

His recommendation, same thing, deport the criminals first. Mailat had a criminal record, two convictions for theft in his home country.

The MSM can hardly bring itself to use the expression "illegal immigrant" in its coverage, but as we saw with the whole Shamnesty blow up, it is an issue that resonates with a majority of Americans, and they won't be able to keep it off the radar forever.

posted by Dave In Texas at 11:56 PM

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