The prosecutor general of the appeals court in the northeastern Italian city of Trieste, Dario Grohmann, expressed concern for the high number of unaccompanied minors reaching Italy through the Balkan route during a ceremony on January 30 for the inauguration of the Italian judicial year.

"It is a constant source of concern, the high number of unaccompanied foreign minors, as well as the migrant flow coming from the so-called Balkan route. This is not only a humanitarian emergency but also one of the most relevant problems for the state administrations involved," said Grohmann.

According to the interim president of Trieste's appeals court, Giuseppe De Rosa, from July 1, 2019, until June 30, 2020, 769 reports were filed for the protection of unaccompanied foreign minors (MSNA). The measures issued to monitor the cases numbered 1,247.

As of August 31, 622 unaccompanied foreign minors were present in Friuli Venezia Giulia. The president highlighted the "already reported problem of the small number of voluntary tutors" for the minors, which, he said, has "remained [a] relevant [problem]."

Illegal immigration 'is a false crime'

As far as the situation regarding immigration at the border is concerned, "new procedures for the judicial recognition of international protection," stressed Grohmann, "are completed very quickly but the administrative problem of repatriations remains unsolved for people without valid international documents."

Another issue highlighted by the prosecutor were pushbacks. "Although [pushbacks are] allowed by bilateral agreements, the absence of a clear and unequivocal juridical framework" regulating pushbacks exposes "police forces operating in the sector of immigration to unpredictable and intolerable situations of responsibility," he said.

Responding on the sidelines of the event to questions on whether the crime of illegal immigration in Italy should be abolished, Grohmann replied: "It is surely a false crime, or a crime that doesn't exist and has no sense. Everybody says so but the reasons not to scrap it seem exclusively political."

Grohmann said the choice not to decriminalize illegal immigration is based on a "political position that believes that this crime can be a deterrent" while in reality "it isn't," a deterrent, the prosecutor added.

Difficult to manage

The councilor of Friuli Venezia Giulia for immigration policies, Pierpaolo Roberti, said on Friday, January 29, during a congress in Trieste that unaccompanied foreign minors have historically immigrated, calling the situation particularly concerning.

For a long time the majority of minors arriving in Italy came from the Kosovan ethnic group, but over the past few years, "the phenomenon has widened to include Pakistanis and Afghans, making its management by authorities truly difficult." Roberti added that "judicial authorities report that illegal trafficking generates a criminal business with impressive revenues for for the human traffickers involved."

The numbers of unaccompanied foreign minors arriving in Friuli "has different problems connected to security, the economic impact for the coffers of the regions and municipalities involved and also the healthcare emergency caused by COVID-19. All this does not allow us to welcome indiscriminately, concluded Roberti. "An in-depth knowledge of the phenomenon is fundamental to manage it in an appropriate way."