A video published by Pasquale Metafora, a former employee of the Italian Embassy in Brazil, has rekindled a theory that has been circulating among groups of Italian descendants: that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, would have pressured Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to change the legislation on Italian citizenship.
The claim gained traction after blog post Roma Daily News. However, in the video, Metafora states — mistakenly — that the complaint was made by the newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Metafora worked for 26 years in the consular area of the embassy in Brasília, having worked with legal cooperation and social assistance. In 2018, he ran for deputy for the Democratic Party (PD) of Italy.
On video (watch the end), he declares: “The mask has finally fallen. I say this because today we finally learned the truth about American pressure to change our citizenship law.”
According to Metafora, the United States government would be uncomfortable with the presence of around 50.000 Italian descendants living in the country passport Italian, who would have exceeded the legal limit of stay – entered as a tourist and remained in the country.
“There are around 50 Italians, who are probably of Italian descent according to them, who are in the United States having exceeded the 90-day stay limit and who are therefore practically at risk of deportation,” he says.
He states that the process of obtaining the passport Italian is strict and to suggest otherwise offends Italy's institutions: “They don't give out easy passports. Who invented that? Absurd, it's an offense.”
According to Metafora, attempts at interference by the United States have occurred in the past, but were not accepted by previous governments:
“Only this political class that is there now gives in to these pressures. Previous diplomacy never gave in to pressures of this kind.”
The narrative, which has no official confirmation, has had repercussions on social media and among communities involved in citizenship by descent processes.
Trump is quoted at the end of the video: “Trump, United States, American administration: respect Italy. If Italy does not demand respect, it is up to us, the citizens, to demand respect. Today’s Italy is not respected by anyone. Shouting on television that we are friends of Trump does not solve anything. We have to demand respect on the international stage, because Italy is a country of serious people, because citizenship is a serious matter.”
Overview of irregular immigration in the USA
According to the Pew Research Center, a type of North American research and data collection institute:
- 11 million people live without authorization in the United States, which represents about 3% of the country's population.
- Most are of Mexican origin.
- There are 230.000 Brazilians among irregular immigrants.
- The number of Europeans without authorization is 615.000.
- Italians represent around 0,45% of the total, which indicates a marginal presence in the American migratory context.
Number of unauthorized immigrants in the US in 2022
By region:
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