It is well known that the offence of illegal immigration was introduced in Italy by law 94 of July 15 2009 as part of the so called “security set of laws”. Less then a year after, it is still impossible to determine, on the basis of definite data, the deterrent consequences of the criminalisation of  illegal entry on the Italian territory. Doubts on the matter are still many. Illegal immigration is considered an offence also in other European countries (France, United Kingdom, Switzerland etc.) but only in Italy it is compulsorily linked to a criminal act. Thus, every time that an illegal immigrant is detected on the territory, the judicial process is automatically started, even if carried out  by peace officers, with high direct and indirect costs – the subtraction of human and financial resources to other issues. On the contrary, in other legal orders, governments can from time to time choose the most proper and effective options and turn to administrative or if necessary penal measures.

The sanction foreseen for the offence of illegal immigration is pecuniary – it would be a paradox to foresee detention, that would cause the effect opposite to the desired one, that is the permanence of the immigrant on the Italian territory, even if in a penal facility – the fine ranges from 5000 to 10000 euro. What kind of deterrent effect can it have if we consider that the foreigners, often by feeding the perverse vicious circle of exploitation, waste the few financial resources at their disposal to pay their trip to Italy? Also for those who are on the Italian sole, maybe in possession of an expired residence permit, the heaviest sanction is exactly the ousting and not at all the fine. The final result  does  not change: the expulsion, rare case, given the fact that it is costly for the State, or, almost always, the delivery to the immigrant of an expulsion order and the obligation to leave the sole of the State within 5 days.

The introduction of the offence of illegal immigration is a parallel phenomenon to the establishment of Italian migration policies that focus more on the repression other than the management of migration. The mechanism is extremely rigid and incapable to provide a satisfactory answer to the problem. This is why the annual fixing of the quotas of entrance  (with the flows decrees) is as usual denied by the mass regularizations – the last of which reserved to care-takers and cleaning ladies. These decreed end up to appear as safety valves of an ill system incapable of providing a solution for both the economy of the country and of the immigrants and that paradoxically foments the illegality that aims to erase, favouring in this way the employment of illegal labour. The moment has come to start reflecting on policies of active management and not only reactive measures of mid-long run in order to reshape in a more efficient and  useful way the relation between market and immigration. More flexible and rapid access channels and granting to the immigrants – as opposed to the current tendency to increase their  precarious condition – a set of clear and certain rights