Italy Debates Revoking Citizenship for Migrant Criminals

The controversy has prompted the League party to introduce legislation in parliament that would dramatically expand the government’s power to strip citizenship from naturalized Italians convicted of violent crimes, as Brussels Signal reports.

On May 16, Salim El Koudri, a 31-year-old Italian citizen of Moroccan descent, deliberately drove at high speed into a crowded pedestrian zone in Modena before crashing into a storefront. He then exited his vehicle armed with a knife and attacked bystanders, according to authorities.

Eight people were injured in the rampage, four critically. A 69-year-old Polish woman and a 53-year-old German woman both suffered leg amputations. Civilians, including two Egyptian migrants, subdued El Koudri before police arrested him. No fatalities occurred.

Deputy Prime Minister and League leader Matteo Salvini has taken the lead in pushing for citizenship revocation powers. Citizenship cannot be for life, Salvini declared, arguing that both residence permits and nationality represent a contract of mutual respect between the state and the individual that can be broken.

El Koudri was born in Bergamo and raised in Ravarino, both in northern Italy. He held Italian citizenship from birth, had earned a degree in business economics, but was unemployed at the time of the attack. He had no criminal record and was unknown to intelligence services.

According to Brussels Signal, investigators discovered that El Koudri had been treated for schizoid disorders by mental health services since 2022 and exhibited increasing emotional instability and social isolation. He reportedly harbored deep resentment toward Italian society, believing he had been discriminated against and humiliated.

In emails sent to the University of Modena in 2021 while seeking employment assistance, El Koudri complained of religious discrimination and used violent language against Christians, though he later apologized. After the attack, he allegedly shouted hostile remarks against Christians again.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi has dismissed a terrorist motive, suggesting El Koudri was driven by resentment over perceived discrimination. The lack of confirmed terrorist links has sparked debate over whether the incident constitutes terrorism or the result of severe psychological distress unrelated to religious radicalization.

Proposed Citizenship Revocation Law

The League’s proposed bill would substantially broaden the circumstances under which citizenship obtained through naturalization or marriage can be revoked. Current Italian law permits revocation only in narrowly defined cases, primarily involving final convictions for terrorism or crimes against the state, and only for naturalized citizens.

Italian-born citizens cannot currently be stripped of nationality, and existing safeguards prevent statelessness. The new legislation would extend revocation powers beyond terrorism to include other serious violent crimes committed against Italian citizens or threats to national security.

Salvini framed the issue in stark terms, stating that serious countries expel those who commit serious crimes as an act of legitimate self-defense. He added that second-generation migrants willing to integrate are welcome, but those who reject the culture and laws of their adopted country become problematic.

The bill must navigate parliamentary committee stages in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, where it can be amended or rejected, before requiring final approval from both chambers. President Sergio Mattarella would then need to sign it into law.

The League represents the most hardline voice on migration and security within Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni‘s governing coalition, and the Modena attack has intensified political tensions over immigration, integration, and public safety across Italy.

With information from Brussels Signal