Italy cracks down on illegal immigrants, landlords

ROME — Italy's lower house of parliament voted Wednesday to fine illegal immigrants up to euro10,000 ($13,670) and jail the people who house them, imposing stiff new penalties in an attempt to stem a flood of migrants on rickety boats from Africa.

The legislation lengthens the amount of time illegal migrants can spend in detention from two months to six months and allows towns and city officials to set up local citizen patrols.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government is being pressured by the anti-immigrant Northern League party in its coalition to halt illegal migration as Italy's economy shrinks in the global downturn, like others across Europe.

But Italy's plight is particularly acute because its largely unpatrolled coastline and islands close to Africa make it a destination of choice for smuggling operations working out of Libya and other countries.

Some 36,000 migrants from Africa and elsewhere arrived in Italy by boat last year.

Under an immigration law adopted when Berlusconi was last in power, immigrants must have a job awaiting them in order to get a residency permit. If illegal migrants don't qualify for asylum, Italian authorities issue expulsion orders. But the Northern League has said those measures have failed to stem the influx, with hundreds of boat people continuing to arrive almost daily.

The new legislation makes entering or staying in Italy without permission a crime punishable by a fine of euro5,000-euro10,000 ($6,840-$13,670). Migrants would not face prison, but the bill provides for up to three years in prison for anyone who knowingly rents housing to an illegal immigrant at the time a lease is signed or extended.

Supporters of the bill easily won a 316-258 confidence vote. The measure must still be approved by the Senate, where Berlusconi's forces also enjoy a majority.

Some legal experts said that in real terms the new measures were merely symbolic because most illegal immigrants would not be able to pay the fine.

But critics charged they could further marginalize those living in Italy illegally by making them afraid to seek medical help or to register their children at birth for fear of being turned in to police, fined and expelled.

Italy receives the world's fourth-highest number of asylum claims each year — after the United States, Canada and France.