Immigration Moves Front and Center in Italy’s Local Elections
By JASON HOROWITZJUNE 24, 2017
COMO, Italy — The center-right candidate for mayor of Como, Mario Landriscina, a doctor who once did United Nations relief work, says
that Italy is second to none in rescuing migrants and that rejecting refugees or minors is out of the question.
that It’s a problem where the conflict — a little bit ethnic, a little bit religious — risks creating tension,
At the event, Ms. Meloni, a member of Parliament, wasted no time bringing up her party’s
opposition to the government’s proposal to extend citizenship to children born in Italy.
Mr. Landriscina arrived for the endorsement event at the Broletto, a medieval
and elegantly arched building next to the cathedral, to the cheers of familiar right-wing politicians including Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the law-and-order Brothers of Italy party.
Shoving has broken out in Parliament over the center-left government’s proposal
to extend citizenship to the children of migrants born on Italian soil.
Its candidate, Mr. Landriscina, argues for closing migrant reception centers
and removing the migrants who he argued did not want to be here to begin with, to relieve mounting tension between Como’s locals and immigrants who he said made no effort to integrate.