Tunisians fleeing economy, not COVID, cause tension in Italy

RAS JEBEL, Tunisia (AP) — Once it was just the jobless young men who set off from Tunisia’s rocky northern beaches for Sicily, usually defying their parents in hopes of a better future.

Now Tunisian families, even those with work or seemingly good prospects, are following that path across 130 kilometers (80 miles) of open water — nearly 10,000 since the beginning of the year and far more than have left in recent memory. The stretch of Mediterranean can be dangerous, the chance of getting asylum in Europe is near zero, and a long quarantine in a ferry anchored offshore will be followed by expulsion if they’re caught.

But many who leave from the Bizerte coastline think the potential reward far outweighs the risk. Those with relatives in Europe are the ones with the new cars and kitchen upgrades.

“My son is a month and a half old, and if I get a chance to emigrate immediately, I will go to make a better life,” said Tarek Aloui, a 27-year-old who has tried 10 times to reach Italy since 2014. He has succeeded only once, last March at the height of the coronavirus lockdown, and was expelled almost immediately back home, where he was jailed for six months. He is undeterred.

“All Tunisian men, women and even children want to leave this way,” he added.

Their arrivals have strained the ability of Italy’s southern regions to take them in amid the coronavirus pandemic, given Italy’s quarantine requirements for anyone arriving from outside the EU.

When a huge fishing boat of 450 Tunisians pulled into port in the Sicilian island of Lampedusa on Aug. 30, some residents took to the docks to protest, shouting at them to go back. Italy’s former interior minister, the anti-migrant League leader Matteo Salvini, criticized the government for letting them in and noted wryly that most will never be granted asylum...