Italian lawyers could win ‘wild west-style bounties’ if immigration clients go home | Italy
Italian lawyers will be paid bonuses if they successfully persuade their immigrant clients to return home under a government scheme likened to a “wild west-style bounty”.
The incentive is included in the latest security bill from Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government and will be presented to the lower house of parliament for final approval this week. After heated debate, it was accepted in the upper house.
Meloni’s ruling coalition has allocated €246,000 (£214,000) for stimulus this year, with funding almost doubled for 2027 and 2028. Lawyers who help their foreign clients accept voluntary repatriation will receive a bonus only when the person returns to their country of origin. Although the bonus amount is not specified in the bill, rough calculations by the Italian press show that this figure is approximately equal to 615 Euros.
The security bill also includes a measure eliminating access to state-funded legal aid when appealing deportation orders.
The bonus plan sparked a new conflict between Italian lawyers and judges a month after Meloni’s government was defeated in a referendum on judicial overhaul.
Italy’s national bar council said in a statement that it was never informed of the measure and called on parliament to cancel it. UCPI, which represents criminal lawyers, said the measure was “incompatible” with Italy’s constitution. I also add lawyers The state should not be paid to achieve a desired outcome and should instead assist its clients “in full freedom and independence.”
Magistrates’ union ANM said it was “appalled” by the measure: warning that it is offered Financial incentives tied to the outcome of migrant repatriation procedures risked undermining effective judicial protection.
There was also a harsh reaction from the opposition. Riccardo Magi, leader of the left-wing Più Europa (More Europe) party, said the bonus was “basically a wild west-style reward” in which “rights are being trampled on and those who are supposed to protect the rights of foreign citizens are financially incentivized not to do so.” HE He explained the security decree “One step away from Trump’s ICE,” he says, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Debora Serracchiani of the Democratic party said the bonus was a “shameful” regulation that “undermines the dignity of professionals”, as well as the loss of legal aid to lawyers who help their clients appeal deportation orders. He added: “This is yet another decree that serves to suppress and eliminate rights.”
Valentina D’Orso of the Five Star Movement accused the government of trying to “exploit lawyers by using them as tools to implement immigration policies.”
The measure in question is the latest step taken by Meloni’s ruling coalition, weakened by the referendum defeat, to prevent irregular migration. In February, the government approved a bill allowing naval blockades to stop boats arriving in Italy during “exceptional” periods of repression.
