May 17, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 29, 1428

ROME, May 16: Who invented the mafia? Italy's left-leaning government asked on Wednesday, reminding the opposition that not only foreigners commit crimes and seeking to quell growing pressure to get tough on immigration.

With a bus hijacked by three Albanians on Tuesday, a woman killed on the Rome metro by a Romanian woman using an umbrella, and headlines like “foreigners kidnap and rape housewife”, the focus has become very much the criminals' nationality.

But the government, smelling a backlash against foreigners, reminded Italy that it invented the Mafia, and its Neapolitan and Calabrian versions, the Camorra and 'Ndrangheta.”

“Of course there are criminals among the immigrants. But there are also Mafiosi among Italian citizens,” said Social Solidarity Minister Paolo Ferrero. But the conservative opposition said on Wednesday it was time to get tough on immigration.

“Enough lefty tolerance. Since (Prime Minister Romano) Prodi and company came to power, Italians have been terrorised by violent episodes almost always carried out by dangerous illegal immigrants,” said Forza Italia deputy Isabella Bertolini.

The previous conservative government under Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi enforced quotas on immigration and interned and repatriated illegals. His successor wants instead to make it easier for foreigners to become legal and integrate.

The government points to immigrant labourers as a driving force in the economy, offsetting Italy's ageing population by boosting employment and setting up small businesses.

But this is undermined by a panic about immigrant criminals, substantiated by data showing one in three crimes is committed by foreigners who are just 4 per cent of the population.

UNDER SIEGE: The 2005-2006 data came in an Interior Ministry report that concluded: “In many areas of the country the principal cause for concern for Italians seems to be the presence of foreigners which often creates a feeling of being under siege.”

A recent poll said 43 per cent of Italians see immigrants as a threat to public security, up from 39 per cent in mid-2005.Such data goes beyond the seasonal reaction to the annual summer arrival of boatloads of poverty-stricken Africans who cross the Mediterranean seeking work in the European Union.

Of the thousands caught each year, some are interned in camps to be sent home and others are released with expulsion orders on the understanding that they will leave voluntarily.

Some in the government appear to sympathise with calls from the opposition and from local authorities for a tougher policy.

“The rules must be changed before intolerance and racism grow,” said Infrastructure Minister Antonio Di Pietro. “People arrested as illegal immigrants can't just be released with an expulsion order. They should be expelled and repatriated.”

The issue is high on the agenda of local politicians, many of whom contest regional elections later this month.

“It is true that some communities, including the Albanians, have brought violent new forms of crime,” said Governor Mercedes Bresso of the Piedmont region, where the bus attack took place.

“In Italy too the Camorra and 'Ndrangheta are very violent, but in the north we are not used to being attacked with guns or knives in our homes or on the bus,” she said.

Pressure for a firmer line comes not just from the right, but also from left-leaning mayors like Rome's Walter Veltroni who said: “Invoking law and order is not politically incorrect.”

The depth of feeling was shown by a flood of letters after La Repubblica newspaper ran a letter from a 49-year-old civil servant saying: “Help! I am a leftist but I am becoming racist.”—Reuters