The mayor of a small town in southern Italy who has become a symbol for welcoming migrants to Italy has been placed under house arrest for allegedly aiding illegal immigration.
Italian financial police arrested the mayor of the Calabrian town of Riace, Domenico Lucano, early Tuesday as part of an investigation that news agency ANSA reports was spurred by the allocation of government funds for refugees and asylum-seekers. SKY TG24 said accusations include organizing marriages of convenience so immigrants could remain in Italy legally.
Lucano gained fame for welcoming migrants, hundreds of whom have settled in the small town of fewer than 2,000 inhabitants. TV presenter Gad Lerner called the arrest “a slap in the face to those who practice the duty of welcoming.”
Lucano was awarded the Dresden Peace Award last year for “helping refugees.” He’s been “welcoming refugees from war and poverty” into Italy since 1998, according to the AP. But now, with Europe slowly waking up to the fact that there is a near-limitless number of “migrants” wanting “refuge” in the West, the worm has finally begun to turn.
P.S. — what “duty of welcoming”? Any elected official’s first duty is to the residents of his municipality, state, province, or country. The paternalism masquerading as “caring” has simply got to stop, with illegal “immigration” forcibly halted at the border, and asylum-seekers sent home to the countries of origin, except in extremely rare and limited cases. Charity begins at home.
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