Populist Italian Senator Matteo Salvini has announced he is considering launching a legal complaint against the leftist coalition government for aiding illegal migration.
Salvini said on Friday that lawyers of his party, the League (Lega), are investigating filing charges of facilitating illegal migration against senior members of the coalition government of the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party (PD).
The former Italian interior minister also gave praise to Giacomo Tranchida, the PD mayor of the city of Trapani in Sicily, who earlier this week banned the docking of the ship Aurelia which is being used to quarantine migrants in case they have the Chinese coronavirus, Il Giornale reports.
Tranchida expressed annoyance that the vessel had been sent to the city when it was originally destined for a town in Calabria, noting that another quarantine vessel, the Azzura, was already off the coast of the town and has 700 migrants aboard.
“It is not yet understood, in the post-quarantine phase, where the government intends to transfer the migrants of the ship Azzura after negative results to the test,” Tranchida said on Facebook, adding that he thought the government was running out of ideas.
Ugo Cappellacci, a member of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and a former president of Sardinia, said he is also looking to pursue legal action against the leftist government.
Cappellacci said the coalition government had not done enough to stop the spread of coronavirus in Sardinia from illegal migrants complained of not having viral tests at airports.
He said he has instructed lawyers to pursue both criminal and civil charges, noting the potential economic harm from the consequences of the spread of the virus on the region’s tourism industry.
Italy has seen a surge in new migrant arrivals in recent weeks, particularly in Sicily and the island of Lampedusa, which has been overwhelmed.
Earlier this week, Italian foreign minister Luigi Di Maio announced that Italy could not take in more illegal migrants and would be working to deport any and all illegals that come into the country.
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