Syracuse, Italy — The Italian government passed a law on 13 May paving the way for around 200,000 undocumented workers to apply for six-month legal residency permits.
But critics argue that it amounts to little more than a temporary amnesty that puts economic interests ahead of human rights and will do little to address the rampant exploitation of migrant labour, especially in Italy's agricultural industry.
Italy's fields have long attracted migrant workers from eastern Europe, hundreds of thousands of whom flock to the country to work the harvest every year.
The law focuses instead on people working in sectors of the economy deemed to be "essential" during the coronavirus crisis, such as undocumented agricultural workers who account for about 25 percent of Italy's agricultural workforce, about double the amount of other economic sectors, according to Italy's National Institute of Statistics.
Ali's story highlights the limitations of Italy's new regularisation law: if people with refugee status and legal residency have no choice but to work in the caporalato system, how will the new law help undocumented migrants escape exploitation?
