Salvini followed Trump's immigration policies, but he will not separate the children



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Speaking ahead of Monday's meeting, the Italian anti-immigrant politician told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that he was closely following the "American approach" against illegal immigration, while adding that separating children from their parents was the limit.

"We try as much as possible not to divide families, children should not be legally hunted," said Salvini, Italian Deputy Prime Minister, in an interview on Thursday. "Having said that, I can not teach President Trump how to handle things, and I'm happy with the way we manage our migration crisis in Italy."

The so-called "zero tolerance" policy of the Trump administration has allowed thousands of people to be arrested by the federal government after crossing the southern border of the United States. Many families have been separated, often from their parents, and the authorities are trying to reunite thousands of separated families.

Salvini shares Trump's concerns about Iran, saying Italy has stopped working on an economic basis with the Middle East country.

"It's a country that thinks they can erase another country (Israel) from the face of the earth," Salvini said. "It can not be anyone we can talk to," adding that the Iran nuclear deal, which the US is partially withdrawing from, should "be reconsidered."

Salvini told CNN that he also hoped to talk to Pence about the "political situation in Libya, Iran, Venezuela" and potential partnerships between the two countries.

Single focus

Since coming to power in 2018, the 46-year-old has become a major player in the broken coalition government of Italy – made up of the five-star Anti-Settlement Movement and the Salvini Right League.

He has since led a series of anti-immigrant policies and implemented law enforcement measures reminiscent of Italy's fascist past, such as the dismantling of migrant and Roma camps.

Under Salvini, illegal immigration to Europe via Italy has significantly decreased. A little over 23,000 irregular pbadages between North Africa and Italy were detected last year, a decrease of 80% compared to 2017.
The minister's latest decision is the promotion of a decree that could sentence migrant rescue vessels to fines of up to $ 57,000 for entering Italian waters without permission.

UN investigators said the decree "would severely undermine the human rights of migrants," but Salvini doubled his decision, accusing relief organizations such as Sea-Watch of failing to abide by the law and work. with traffickers of human beings ".

He said the ships "saved people close to Tunisia or Malta, far from Italy" but were traveling "twice as long" to reach Italy and land migrants on its shores.

Captains of migrant rescue vessels could be fined $ 57,000 as part of the crackdown at the Italian

"Saving lives is not a right, but a duty for everyone, after that, you have to respect the laws, the international conventions, the orders of different forces at sea," he added.

Sea-Watch had previously challenged the closure of the ports by the Interior Minister to help run vessels run by NGOs and defended the rescue of migrants in distress at sea. "We have not violated any law, on the contrary, we have once again upheld the Law of the Sea and the Geneva Convention on Refugees !, "he said in a Facebook message.

"Rescue at sea is not a crime," added the organization, which is suing Italy before the European Court of Human Rights for banning the berthing of his ships.

Italy's clash with migrant rescue vessels reached its peak last summer when a number of ships, some carrying hundreds of people, were stranded at sea for days without any place where to moor. Earlier this year, Sea-Watch accused the Italian authorities of inventing irregularities to prevent its ship from leaving the port of Catania, delaying its return to patrol in the Mediterranean.

Salvini reiterated his inflammatory rhetoric about the migrants during the interview, falsely claiming that "there are neighborhoods in [the French city of] Marseille where sharia [law] is implemented. "He added that he subscribed to the remarks made once by the Archbishop of Bologna that it was better to have" migrations from countries whose culture is closer to ours ".

In the European parliamentary elections last month, the Salvini League won over 34% of the vote, while the Five Star coalition partners lost ground.

French Marine Le Pen on Thursday unveiled in the European Parliament a new far-right group including Salvini's party, Reuters reported.

The newly-named Identity and Democracy Group (ID) is the fifth largest group in the European Parliament.

But Salvini has ruled out early elections in Italy because of the league's electoral success.

"I have no other ambition than to keep the promises I made," he said. "We may be able to talk about it in a few years."

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