Migrant asylum seekers, Milan: queued for days and months just to access the procedure which entitles them to international protection

This report is taken from the Altreconomia magazine – monthly and online – of independent information, directed by Duccio Facchini, which deals with issues on the solidarity and transformative economy

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MILAN – The scene in front of the immigration office in via Cagni 15 in Milan is the same every week. And the risk is that you can get used to it. Hundreds of (would-be) asylum seekers show up between Friday and Sunday. They form a queue by nationality and stand on a sidewalk cordoned off by police until Monday morning. Their hope is all concentrated behind a small dark door measuring one meter by two: it is from there that you enter the Annarumma barracks.

For the appointment, 120 people a week and only on Mondays. Since last December, the procedures for applying for international protection have changed. Only 120 people a week are allowed in, all on a Monday. Those who succeed, make an initial appointment for the application, which will be filed and managed at a later time. However, this can take many months: too many to be able to start a life without the constant fear of being expelled. People come from Bangladesh, Egypt, South American countries, even Georgia. They have the most diverse ages, from zero to fifty years old. After thousands of kilometres, often on the Balkan route, they find themselves in via Cagni willing to lose the few strengths left in order to assert a right: that of a dignified life in a state that protects them.

Camp with blankets and food for a few days. Returning from various rejections, many are now equipped. They have blankets, flattened boxes to sit on, sacks or backpacks with food for a few days, layers of clothes on to face the cold. They wait up to 24 hours, in an open park at any temperature, in order not to miss their shift. A shift that doesn’t exist though. “I am a correct person. We have created a list of people in order of arrival but nobody is interested,” explains José, a Peruvian asylum seeker. He’s been in Milan for months, he’s found a little job and when he can’t show up, he sends his boss to stand in line for him. “It’s the fifth time I’ve been here and I can’t get in. They don’t respect us, he is humiliating ”, he continues showing one after the other the four jackets he wears to protect himself from the cold of a February night. “Now I hate Egypt,” says Khasib, who left Cairo seven months ago. “I hate my country because if you are Egyptian you don’t enter here. It’s not right”. The previous Sunday, only 25 out of 300 compatriots had managed to enter via Cagni. In fact, Egyptian citizens are the ones most often denied access to the asylum procedure.

“Since May I’ve been trying to make an appointment.” “I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m an honest person, I need documents to work regularly”, explains Ana, of Georgian nationality, who has been trying to make an appointment at the immigration office here in Milan since last May. “Without the request for protection I can’t do anything”. In via Cagni it has been like this for a year and the climate continues to worsen every Sunday, with charges and clashes between the forces of order and people in queue. “The riots arise because people are left out for countless hours without indications – says a volunteer from Mutual aid Milan – many do not even speak Italian. Often they are moved without explanation from one place to another, and do not understand what is happening. They stay out despite being in line for days, and this generates nervousness and chaos”.

The “legendary” Model C3. The few who manage to access the police headquarters are in a heated tent, waiting to formalize their application for international protection. They are usually given an appointment within the same week, taking into account the calendar of mediators and interpreters available for identification. On the established date, a personal data sheet is then issued, which does not recognize any particular rights other than the inability to expel, with which a second appointment is set, the one for completing the “Model C3”. The C3 is the only form which formalises the application for international protection. After completing the procedure, the process involves issuing a six-month temporary permit, a slip with a photo, which must be renewed until some form of protection is recognized or the application is rejected. This receipt also allows you to enroll in the National Health System and, after two months, to work legally in the area.

Faced with the hundreds of people who are unable to enter the police station, theNaga Association seeks to prevent their right to apply for international protection from being denied. “We are filing several appeals to the Court to ensure that the deadlines prescribed by current legislation are respected, i.e. three days from the manifestation of the will to seek asylum, which can be extended by a further ten in exceptional cases”, explains a volunteer. “By the thirteenth day, the applicant is entitled to an appointment to complete his application, but the deadlines are almost never respected”.

* Niccolò Palla and Sara Tirrito – Altreconomia