Mayor of Rome: "Temporary Halt on Immigration to Rome"

     In the wake of President Trump's travel halt, the first female Mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi has called for a temporary halt on immigration to Rome. Raggi, a member of the Five Star Movement Party established in 2009, called for a "moratorium" on incoming immigrants. In a letter reportedly sent to the New Prefect of Rome, Paola Basilone, Raggi suggested, "I find it impossible, as well as risky, to think up further accommodation structures." Mayor Raggi made the request due to "the strong migrated presence [in Rome]...and the continued influx of foreign citizens." According to thelocal.it, it is still not clear how long the temporary halt on immigration will last.

     Figures released by the National Institute for Statistics in Italy state more than five million people in the country are foreign-born which is approximately 8.3 percent of the population (which has risen 6.2 percent since 2000). There is a steady flow of African and Middle Eastern migrants from Libya, which certainly blurs the exact number of how many people live in the country. Italian figures also reported roughly 364,000 foreign-born people live in the city of Rome, which represents 13 percent of the population. The U.S. Census Bureau has Italy's current population to be 62.1 million people, with a projected population of 61.4 million by 2050.
     In January of 2017, Fox News reported the new government of Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni "to open 16 new detention centers throughout the country to hold migrants who receive expulsion orders, enabling Rome to raise the number of forced repatriations. They are also ordering police to intensify efforts to find illegal migrants." This comes from the pressure that Rome was put under after the country saw a record 180,000 migrants arrive by boat, totaling the seaborne arrivals to about half a million since the start of 2014, Fox News report states. Mayor Raggi's request for a temporary halt on immigration does not come to a surprise since there has already been pressure on Rome to move deportation to the top of their agenda.

     Democrats need to take note of Italy's efforts to keep their Italian citizens safe. Keeping the safety of their citizens as a priority should be a lesson to the politicians and circuit judges who refuse to pass President Trump's travel halt. The safety of the American people is no joke. There have been too many families that have suffered at the hands of illegal immigrants and sanctuary cities should not be funded by the government. In the wise words of Former President Ronald Reagan, "A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation."

-Alejandra, FFF
Edited by: Jaime Roberts