On March 4, over 50 million Italian voters will go to the polls to elect the deputies and senators of the 18th legislature of the Republic. With last-minute rallies being held throughout the country, migration is at the very heart of the debate. Fomented by fear and negative perceptions rather than facts, in the past months the conversation has assumed an anti-establishment, anti-migration, Eurosceptic tone. There is virtually no talk about the fact that arrivals by sea in 2018 diminished by over 60% when compared to the same period in 2017. And there is even less talk about the vulnerability and protection needs of people who reach the shores of Italy by crossing the Mediterranean. But state failure to protect migrants and refugees and to process their status swiftly is becoming increasingly problematic, as these vulnerable groups can easily fall through the cracks of the formal system right into the arms of organised crime. Developments over the past few years have shown this to contribute to the proliferation and fragmentation of organised crime in Italy.
