[Townhall] On Tuesday, Italian police put Domenico Lucano, the mayor of the small Calabrian town of Riace, under house arrest for allegedly helping illegal migrants to stay in the country.According to the Associated Press, Italian authorities charge that Lucano has been organizing "fraudulent associations" that arrange "marriages of convenience" for the sole purpose of helping migrant women to get around Italian immigration laws and avoid deportation.
The BBC reports that police have proof of the mayor’s crime via a wiretap of his personal phone:
Prosecutors said they had wire-tapped Mr Lucano's phone and recorded at least one exchange in which the mayor appeared to suggest marriage as a solution to a woman's immigration problems, in a way they said could not be misunderstood.The same authorities who put Lucano under house arrest also believe that he illegally awarded two local co-operatives with trash-collecting contracts in Riace without going through necessary public tender procedures that mandate specific rules for how companies must compete to acquire government contracts. According to The Daily Telegraph, the two co-operatives in question were specifically "set up to help migrants find work." Conversely, the BBC describes the co-operatives more generously as having been established "to provide work for the people of Riace and migrants." In either case, it appears that Lucano was not simply interested in helping migrants to evade Italian immigration laws, but was also promoting businesses that give preference to migrant employees.
One excerpt concerned a Nigerian migrant who had been denied residence three times, the statement said. Mr Lucano is reported to have said that marrying an Italian citizen was "the only way forward".
As mayor, Domenico Lucano is in charge of the town's civil registry.
In the excerpts he is said to refer to a similar wedding in the past, and his ability to arrange a ceremony quickly. He is also quoted offering to acquire an ID card to say the woman was a resident of Riace.