About a third of the migrants
that have reached Italy so far this year have refused to be
identified, according to Italian police.
Syrians and Eritreans are among those most likely to refuse
to be identified upon arrival, forensic police chief Daniela
Stradiotto told a parliamentary commission.
Out of the 122,000 people that have arrived on Italian
shores this year, 41,000 people have refused identification.
EU regulation requires immigrants' asylum applications to
be handled by the country they first reach. But many of the
migrants do not wish to stay in Italy, rather they are hoping to
reach countries such as Germany, Sweden and Britain.
Stradiotto said the offices managing migrant arrivals and
identifications in Italy were sufficiently staffed. However,
many migrants are refusing the process and regulation prevents
police from holding them for more than 12 hours, or forcing them
through photo and fingerprint ID procedures.
"If the foreigner refuses to be identified then it is not
possible to proceed," she said.
She said new rules were needed to allow police to hold
immigrants for up to 72 hours in order to try to force them to
be identified.
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