Italy Tilts Trump’s Way, Refusing Safe Haven to Child Migrants Saved From Drowning

Italy’s far-right interior minister, Matteo Salvini, who seems ready to vie even with his hero Donald Trump in cruelty toward the most vulnerable, declared victory on Monday in his campaign to defy international law by refusing to accept more than 600 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean this weekend.

After over 10 hours of operation, #Aquarius now has over 600 people on board. Among them, the couple pictured below who had no idea whether the other had survived the crossing. pic.twitter.com/3aHfDdMXq0

— Anelise Borges (@AnneliseBorges) June 10, 2018

Salvini, who is also Italy’s new deputy premier, put his Trump-inspired “Italians First” campaign slogan into practice over the weekend by closing the country’s ports to a rescue ship, the Aquarius, which is carrying 629 migrants saved from drowning, including 123 unaccompanied minors, 11 babies, and seven pregnant women.

UPDATE: People onboard #Aquarius are getting increasingly anxious and desperate. #MSF has informed everybody about current situation. One man threatened to jump overboard, saying he was scared he would be returned to #Libya. pic.twitter.com/n0pR8a6Cu0

— MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) June 11, 2018

The migrants were left stranded at sea, with no idea where they might land until Spain’s new socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, intervened on Monday to offer the migrants safe haven in Valencia.

I have given instructions for Spain to welcome the #Aquarius ship in the Port of Valencia. It is our obligation to provide these 600 people a safe harbor. We comply with international commitments regarding humanitarian emergencies.

— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) June 11, 2018

Spanish journalists on board the rescue vessel have reported the increasingly desperate plight of the migrants over the past 24 hours.

Fotos: Onte vivimos o primeiro rescate a bordo do #AcuariusSOSMediterranee nunha intensa noite cun total de 629 personas rescatadas. Voltamos a porto. pic.twitter.com/dysPUoZ4mN

— Óscar Corral (@corralfoto) June 10, 2018

Las mujeres, al despertarse, rezan. 'All I have to say: thank you, God' ( Sólo puedo dar gracias a Dios). #aquarius @MSF_Sea @rne pic.twitter.com/gtlIx5mx4n

— Sara Alonso Esparza (@SAlonsoEsparza) June 11, 2018

Valencia, however, is 800 nautical miles away from the point between Italy and Malta, where the ship has been stranded, and took on emergency rations of food on Monday.

#LIVE from the #Aquarius: our current location. pic.twitter.com/2ilZLWzAiq

— Anelise Borges (@AnneliseBorges) June 10, 2018

Malta’s prime minister, who had resisted Italian pressure to take the migrants, thanked Spain’s new government for defusing the crisis.

I thank #Spain PM @sanchezcastejon for taking in #Aquarius after #Italy broke international rules and caused a standoff. #Malta will be sending fresh supplies to the vessel. We will have to sit down and discuss how to prevent this from happening again.This is a European issue -JM

— Joseph Muscat (@JosephMuscat_JM) June 11, 2018

Since Italy’s navy had coordinated the initial rescue effort, and even transferred some of the migrants its own navy had saved to the rescue ship staffed by volunteer aid workers, it was obliged by international law to ensure their safety.

But Salvini, who channeled Trump last week by telling reporters at a refugee camp in Sicily that Tunisia “isn’t exporting gentlemen, it seems more often they’re exporting convicts,” responded defiantly to calls for mercy, even from the Vatican. On Sunday evening, he posted an image of himself on Twitter with his arms crossed above the message, “We are closing the ports,” rendered as an Italian hashtag.

#chiudiamoiporti pic.twitter.com/TusUnoHUiw

— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) June 10, 2018

Salvini’s nationalist Lega party has promised to expel the 600,000 undocumented immigrants who have arrived in Italy since 2014, mostly from Africa, but he was only able to close the country’s ports with the support of his coalition partners in the populist Five Star Movement, which leads Italy’s new coalition government.

As the crisis was unfolding over the weekend, the Five Star leader, Luigi Di Maio, shared a tweet from Trump in which he praised the coalition’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte.

Just met the new Prime Minister of Italy, @GiuseppeConteIT, a really great guy. He will be honored in Washington, at the @WhiteHouse, shortly. He will do a great job – the people of Italy got it right!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2018

While Trump was alienating America’s other close allies at the Group of 7 meeting in Canada this weekend, Conte had echoed the American president’s call for Russia to be re-admitted to the club it was suspended from for seizing Crimea and fomenting war in Ukraine.

Salvini, who met with Trump during the 2016 campaign, has also called for an end to sanctions on Russia.

Un saluto dagli Stati Uniti, amici! Go, Donald, GO!#trump2016 #MakeAmericaGreatAgain @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/RfUeDGRGMI

— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) April 26, 2016

After his party made a strong showing in the March elections, Salvini posted an image of himself on Twitter beaming in front of a bookshelf adorned with a “Make America Great Again” hat and a photograph of Vladimir Putin.

Tra 10 minuti su https://t.co/69OdhkI2d3 LIVE, vi ringrazio uno ad uno! #elezioni2018 pic.twitter.com/hzxr7N5ntS

— Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) March 5, 2018

Also on the shelf was a copy of a book about the cooperation agreement with Putin’s United Russia party that Salvini signed in Moscow last year on behalf of his own far-right party. While the details of that agreement were not made public, Salvini told Russians at the time that his goal was to work “so that Italy has real parliamentary elections, just as open as in your country.”