From Malpensa to Chiasso, this is the new axis of illegal immigration

From cigarette smuggling to the trafficking of desperate people fleeing towards Switzerland. The times are changing, on the border between Lombardy and the Swiss canton of Ticino, which has become the gateway for foreigners coming from east Europe, Africa and Asia.

The route is always the same; many refugees who land in Italy head northwards, to Germany, or even further north, where their chances of obtaining asylum is greater than in Italy. The surveillance system is improving all the time; there are no longer just men, but also infrared cameras that detect every movement, and unmanned aeroplanes. Many come directly from Malpensa; while news cameras focus on the island of Lampedusa, while the government claims that sea landings have been stopped, the airport has become the point of access for those fleeing from wars and from persecution. Recently, even the Minister Roberto Maroni mentioned this phenomenon, which, incidentally, has been known of for some time, but has been given little coverage by the media. Among the foreigners who come, some manage to apply for asylum before being turned away by the border police; others enter on tourist visas. And from here, they continue towards Switzerland, Germany and Scandinavia, often boarding the Milan-Chiasso-Ticino trains in Brianza, hoping to elude the control system, by hiding among the groups of cross-border-workers.

Once they enter Switzerland, the foreigners (most of whom are young) apply for the right to asylum, for which the Confederation guarantees a careful assessment, as should be the case in every Country that has signed the international agreements. For this reason, the young foreigners reach the other side of the border with a good knowledge of the rules, and consequently, it is believed that there is a network helping the illegal immigrants. And while, on the one hand, there are a lot of associations, groups, social centres actively engaged in the network of solidarity, there is also the suspicion that criminal organisations are also involved in this large migration, which they exploit for their drug trafficking activities.

The warning by the Swiss authorities (which has been reported on by the newspaper “Il Post”) is also to the Italian authorities, as they should put greater emphasis on opposing racketeering, which is apparently well-rooted in industrious Lombardy.