20,000 BD workers in Italy face risks of deportation by Dec

Reza Mahmud :
Nearly 20,000 Bangladeshi undocumented migrant workers in Italy are in the risk of repatriation to home by December, sources said.
Sources from Diasporas in Italy said that several thousand Bangladeshis go to the said European country every year.
As of June 2022, about 21,848 irregular migrants entered Italy through various illegal means, which is 22 percent more than last year.
As per the diasporas’ account about 2,50,000 Bangladeshi migrant workers are living in Italy.
Most of those are working in agricultural field and different factories and farms.
About 40, 000 of the Bangladeshi workers in the country become undocumented.
Of them about 20,000 persons might get chance to be legalized there, as a good number have applied to get documented last year.
It said around 20, 000 undocumented Bangladeshi migrants in Italy have applied for regularisation under an Italian government declared amnesty programme.
Meanwhile, a large portion about, rest 20,000 might face repatriation risks as the newly elected far right government of the country is trying to send them back to home.
The winning coalition of Italy have campaigned on a hardline anti-migration platform, promising to implement a
naval blockade to prevent asylum seekers and migrants from reaching Italian ports and to follow in the UK’s and Denmark’s footsteps by attempting to send asylum seekers outside Europe to have their claims processed.
In these circumstances, the Bangladeshi Diasporas are in fear of being arrested and repatriated due to the far right government’s anti-asylum seekers and anti-migrant stances.
“We have heard that this government strictly wants to send back all the undocumented Bangladeshis which is about 20,000 persons by December,” said Khalid Hossain, a resident of Faridpur living in Rome.
He said after electing the anti-migrant coalition, many of our illegal workers are keeping absent frequently from their workplaces due to fear of being arrested.
They requested to Bangladesh government for doing something so that they can stay and work there.
When contacted, Imran Ahmad, Minister of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment told The New Nation on Thursday, “We are trying utmost to help our people in Italy who become undocumented.”
He said some of the matters need diplomatic solutions.
The foreign ministry is working for it.
Contacted, Dr. Abdul Momen, Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The New Nation on Thursday, “The major problem lacks legal papers with the undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants in the European country. Most of them want to get untrue age stated passport which is not possible.”
The Minister said that without false passport, the ministry is trying utmost to solve their problems in diplomatic way.