Shots rang out in Rosarno, Italy on the night of January 7th, triggering two days of rioting that would bring this small agricultural town to the forefront of immigration discourse. Rosarno is located in the "toe" of Italy, best known for its citrus trees and its connections to one of Italy 's most brutal mafias, the 'Ndrangheta. It 's common knowledge that the 'Ndrangheta control the production of fruit and vegetables in this region, with the "help" of immigrants from Africa and Eastern Europe. The majority of immigrants that pick produce for the 'Ndrangheta are in Italy illegally and live in abject squalor, facts that have gone unaddressed for years. After the violence that engulfed Rosarno in January, these issues could no longer be ignored.
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Approximately 8,000 immigrants live in the Calabria region, many of them living and working there illegally. Italy 's government is well aware that Rosarno 's migrant workforce is largely illegal and "living in inhuman conditions." The mayor of Rosarno, Carlo Martelli, has stated that national institutions prefer to ignore the illegal status of migrant workers, because the already crippled agricultural economy would collapse without them. After the rioting, Italy 's government is no longer able to turn a blind-eye to illegal immigration. Italy 's interior minister, Roberto Maroni, has stated, "In all these years illegal immigration has been tolerated without doing anything effective, an immigration that on the one hand has fed crime and on the other has led to situations of extreme squalor such as that at Rosarno". Maroni was condemned by his opponents, who cited xenophobia, mafia-influence, and a struggling economy as the real sources of the rioting. Nonetheless, even legal African immigrants have been driven from their livelihood 's in Rosarno. Despite the fact that rioting is being discussed as an issue of illegal immigration by the Italian government, it 's being portrayed in the media as a largely African immigrant problem stimulated by the visibility of black illegals who become easy targets for xenophobic Italians. With no legal discourse, illegal immigrants turned to violence, but it 's only the black immigrants who are being punished with deportation. Making a second attempt to enter Europe illegally will prove too costly for most African immigrants; their voyage is substantially more expensive than the nomadic Roma or Sinti immigrants ' would be. The risk African immigrants took by rioting speaks volumes about the level of indecency they must have experienced in Rosarno. Looking closely at the situation in Rosarno allows us to reflect on the
Approximately 8,000 immigrants live in the Calabria region, many of them living and working there illegally. Italy 's government is well aware that Rosarno 's migrant workforce is largely illegal and "living in inhuman conditions." The mayor of Rosarno, Carlo Martelli, has stated that national institutions prefer to ignore the illegal status of migrant workers, because the already crippled agricultural economy would collapse without them. After the rioting, Italy 's government is no longer able to turn a blind-eye to illegal immigration. Italy 's interior minister, Roberto Maroni, has stated, "In all these years illegal immigration has been tolerated without doing anything effective, an immigration that on the one hand has fed crime and on the other has led to situations of extreme squalor such as that at Rosarno". Maroni was condemned by his opponents, who cited xenophobia, mafia-influence, and a struggling economy as the real sources of the rioting. Nonetheless, even legal African immigrants have been driven from their livelihood 's in Rosarno. Despite the fact that rioting is being discussed as an issue of illegal immigration by the Italian government, it 's being portrayed in the media as a largely African immigrant problem stimulated by the visibility of black illegals who become easy targets for xenophobic Italians. With no legal discourse, illegal immigrants turned to violence, but it 's only the black immigrants who are being punished with deportation. Making a second attempt to enter Europe illegally will prove too costly for most African immigrants; their voyage is substantially more expensive than the nomadic Roma or Sinti immigrants ' would be. The risk African immigrants took by rioting speaks volumes about the level of indecency they must have experienced in Rosarno. Looking closely at the situation in Rosarno allows us to reflect on the