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Lorenzo Piccoli

@lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social
2.6K followers 1.3K following 327 posts

Part-time Assistant Professor at the Migration Policy Centre and School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute. Migration studies, asylum, citizenship.

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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The Trump administration is also using humanitarian aid to support deportations. In the Central African Republic, for example, US funding for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has risen to $85m, compared with a Biden-era high of $14m. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
theguardian.com
Banished to alien lands: Trump’s secret deportation deals
After a plane journey in shackles, an Iranian woman found herself in the middle of Africa in a country she did not know existed. She is one of thousands deported from the US on the back of shadowy dea...
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
In order to accelerate its expulsion of migrants and asylum seekers, the Trump administration has remade the very institutions that were once intended to protect migrants who fled persecution. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
washingtonpost.com
How Trump turned a refugee bureau into a $410 million deportation operation
Inside the secret deals powering the president’s push to deport migrants to countries not their own.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The project counted 100 flights that have carried more than 26,000 migrants and asylum seekers to 28 different countries. This is likely to be an undercount as the consortium’s dataset only includes flights it was able to independently verify. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
theguardian.com
Banished to alien lands: Trump’s secret deportation deals
After a plane journey in shackles, an Iranian woman found herself in the middle of Africa in a country she did not know existed. She is one of thousands deported from the US on the back of shadowy dea...
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The Deportation Project is a joint investigation of 24 media outlets coordinated by Forbidden Stories. The consortium interviewed more than 100 people affected by, or involved in deportations from the United States. The evidence collected is extraordinary. forbiddenstories.org/the-deportat...
forbiddenstories.org
The Deportation Project Map
Between 2025 and August 2026, the Trump administration deported over 25,000 people to countries other than their country of origin. Very few of these removals were publicly announced by the US. The De...
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Migration Observatory @migobs.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
In July, 43% of the public said immigration was an important issue affecting the UK, more than any other topic. Take a look at our updated public attitudes briefing to see how views vary towards different migrant groups and who is more likely to hold positive/negative attitudes toward immigration.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The Italian police searched 23 doctors across nine cities on suspicion of having helped migrants avoid being sent to detention in repatriation centres by falsely certifying them to be ill. Prosecutors have ruled out financial gain for the doctors involved. www.infomigrants.net/en/post/7377...
infomigrants.net
Italy: Protests continue over doctors under investigation for 'helping' irregular migrants
Reports from Italy indicate that some doctors in the country are being investigated on suspicion of having 'helped' migrants avoid being sent to detention centers — by falsely certifying them to be il...
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This is a part of a broader trend of xenophobia in the continent, often stirred by politicians. Think of recent events in Tunisia, South Africa, but also in Ethiopia, Egypt (against Sudanese), and Uganda (against Eritreans). www.economist.com/middle-east-...
economist.com
William Ruto turns against foreign traders
Kenya is the latest African country to struggle with anti-migrant sentiment
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
In Kenya there have been xenophobic attacks on foreign shop-owners after president Ruto said that all foreign nationals operating small businesses had until 7 September to pack up shop, saying such low-level jobs should be reserved for Kenyans. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Kenyan crackdown on foreign traders prompts fear: 'It's like a dog set loose on us'
The authorities have struggled to contain the fallout, as frightened migrants flee the country.
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Jorge Liboreiro @jorgeliboreiro.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Italy has extended for an additional 15 days its air and maritime border checks with Spain, introduced last month after Ceuta. “Significant internal security risks persist, alongside potential dangers linked to possible terrorist infiltration,” ministry says.
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James McLeod @jamespmcleod.ca · 14/09/2026
A nation of nerds. www.canada.ca/en/statistic...
canada.ca
Statistics Canada thanks Canadians for their exceptional participation in the 2026 Census - Canada.ca
Thanks to outstanding participation across the country, the final response rate for the Canadian census is among the highest ever recorded.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
As we begin a new academic year at the @eui-stg.bsky.social, I chose Josef Schulz’s image of an abandoned border post as a reminder that transnational governance can create barriers to human movement through deportation agreements and externalised border controls, but can also remove them.
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Maarten Vink @maartenpvink.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Oh no... Now also Ireland is planning to increase the residence requirement for naturalisation (from 5 to 8 years)?? If this goes through it would be a pretty dramatic move. Justification rests on picking the most restrictive examples across Europe... www.gov.ie/en/departmen...
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Nigeria’s parliament said its lawmakers would stop travelling to South Africa, in protest at violence against Nigerians and other African migrants. Up to 98 Nigerians have died in attacks linked to anti-migrant hostility there since 2022. www.reuters.com/world/africa...
reuters.com
Nigeria parliament boycotts South Africa events over anti-migrant attacks
Nigeria's parliament has suspended official visits to South Africa and ordered lawmakers to boycott South African-hosted legislative activities, ​citing reports of attacks on Nigerians and other Afric...
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Migration Policy Group @migpolgroup.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
It's rough out there! Civil society & migrant communities are under pressure. That's why we're so excited to open the call for one of our most inspiring initiatives: the 4th Democracy Academy ❤️‍🔥 Led by (migrant) speakers, it is a space for training, knowledge-sharing and networking > bit.ly/46jS6ZX
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Anita Gohdes @argohdes.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
This is well worth reading. Disinformation blooms when information is scarce. "The informational vulnerability is a product of a legal architecture that offers almost no authoritative, usable answer to the question of who may enter and how."
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Jorge Liboreiro @jorgeliboreiro.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Bombshell in Spain: A police report has concluded that the Ceuta crisis was planned and steered by Moroccan authorities to violate the Spanish border under the guise of a migratory wave. The findings directly contradict the Spanish goverment, which has blamed smugglers, rather than Morocco.
elespanol.com
La Policía informa a la juez que la invasión de Ceuta fue guiada por gendarmes marroquíes a las órdenes de agentes de paisano con un fin distinto al migratorio
El CENIF, unidad de inteligencia de la Comisaría de Extranjería, comunica a la magistrada Tardón que fue un proceso planificado para colapsar el sistema de control fronterizo y eliminar la capacidad d...
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
This study finds that scientific papers derived from a health and nutrition data set were about four a year between 2014 and 2021. In the first nine months of 2024, there were 190. What changed? The widespread adoption of AI, in not very good ways. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
medrxiv.org
Dramatic increases in redundant publications in the Generative AI era
Background Redundant publication, the practice of submitting the same or substantially overlapping manuscripts multiple times, distorts the scientific record and wastes resources. Since 2022, publicat...
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Migration Policy Institute @migrationpolicy.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Ghana’s diaspora is a major economic force. In 2025, remittances amounted to 6% of GDP But emigration creates tradeoffs. The departure of health-care workers and other highly skilled Ghanaians has raised concerns about brain drain Our article details: bit.ly/4zBhWWF
bit.ly
Ghana’s Migration Trends Reflect West African Ties and Global Connections
Ghana’s migration policies have sought to promote mobility within West Africa while fostering ties with the diaspora and managing the tradeoffs of emigration.
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Jorge Liboreiro @jorgeliboreiro.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Italy has informed the European Commission that it will extend border checks with Spain for another 15 days. The checks were introduced in reaction to the Ceuta border crisis. Spain retaliated in kind.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Asia-Pacific is bucking the global travel slowdown due to the war in Iran. @iata.org says summer flight bookings rose 33% in the region. Incheon Airport in South Korea saw transit traffic jump 18% making it, preliminarily, the world’s busiest airport for international passengers in 2026.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
We have updated the Migration Movies Database, which now includes 700+ documentaries, movies, and series globally. The database is designed to serve as a resource for anyone interested in incorporating movies into teaching, learning, and public discourse. migrationpolicycentre.eu/project/migr...
migrationpolicycentre.eu
Migration Movies Database - Migration Policy Centre
This Migration Movies Database brings together screen works that tell stories of migration and human movement from1940 until 2025.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Why should all potential deportees be black? The largest immigrant communities in Italy are from Albania, Romania, Morocco, Ukraine, China, and Bangladesh. Oh, wait, I think we know the answer. This is some openly racist propaganda next to my door in Florence.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The years 2024 and 2025 were the deadliest for reporters worldwide since records by the Committee to Protect Journalists began in 1992. In these last two years, attacks by the government of Israel were responsible for 70% of the deaths of journalists worldwide. tinyurl.com/msh8sbtc
tinyurl.com
Explore CPJ's database of attacks on the press
Latest press freedom news from around the globe.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
A difficult trade-off facing Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni could prove crucial ahead of next year’s elections. Excellent thread on it by @dralbertazziuk.bsky.social.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
For the last seven months straight, the U.S. government has refused to process immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries around the world; including visas for spouses of U.S. citizens. Today, a federal judge ruled the policy flagrantly illegal.
Map of the world, with the 75 countries impacted highlighted in yellow. They include countries in South America like Brazil and Venezuela, about half of all African countries, and most Middle Eastern countries.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Really nice, I did not know these: thank you! I will be happy to listen to @msumption.bsky.social, whose new book I just bought, and I am curious about Atilla Melegh, whose work I do not know.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Not the first time the left outflanks the right on migration. A left-wing Italian government signed a deal with Libya to effectively stop people, and Obama was dubbed by many as “Deporter in Chief.” What feels new is a left-wing party publicly embracing unusually hard-line migration policies.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Thanks a lot, Klaudia. I will listen to it! A recent episode I personally enjoyed is Adrian Favell and @sarahkunz.bsky.social on Eurostars and Eurocities, on the podcast Borders and Belonging by @maggieperzyna.bsky.social. bordersandbelonging.buzzsprout.com/2262626/epis...
bordersandbelonging.buzzsprout.com
Adrian Favell on Eurostars and Eurocities, feat. Sarah Kunz - Borders & Belonging
Adrian Favell reflects on the ideas and experiences that shaped his work on mobility, free movement and Europe's so called borderless future.He is joined by Sarah Kunz, whose research examines how pri...
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I am afraid this message will fall flat, but: What is one recent podcast episode on migration you would recommend? (I am adding some complementary, up-to-date resources to my syllabus on Migration Governance, due to start next month).
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
An interesting piece on the growing role of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in U.S. third-country deportations, raising the question of whether IOM’s involvement might help normalise a deportation machine. passblue.com/2026/06/30/h...
passblue.com
How a UN Agency Helps to Enable the US Policy on Third-Country Deportees - PassBlue
How a UN Agency Helps to Enable the US Policy on Third-Country Deportees - PassBlue
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
In July, energy consumption in Italy grew by 8,3% (!) compared to the same period in 2025, largely driven by the increase in use if air conditioning. www.milanofinanza.it/news/terna-c...
milanofinanza.it
Terna, consumi elettrici record a luglio per il caldo eccezionale | MilanoFinanza News
La domanda vola a 32,5 TWh (+8,3% rispetto all'anno precedente), trainata dal caldo estremo e dalla ripresa dell’industria. Il paradosso del mix energetico: la quota delle rinnovabili scende al 4...
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
And still, virtually no political party in Europe has any sensitive proposal/idea of how to fight against global warming.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Why did 60,000 people attempt to cross a tightly controlled border in Ceuta in a single day? Here, I argue that this would have been impossible without at least some acquiescence by the authorities. Another reminder that externalised border controls can backfire. www.dw.com/en/fact-chec...
dw.com
Fact check: Did disinformation trigger the Ceuta crisis?
More than 70 people died after thousands of migrants tried to cross from Morocco into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta. The crossings have been linked to misleading claims about a recent Spanish Supreme C...
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
What a sad and surreal piece of theatre.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Perhaps what is most interesting is the absence of France and Portugal from this letter.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Suspending Schengen looks more like political theatre: symbolic, but with little practical bearing on the tragic events unfolding in Ceuta. It’s a bit like trying to put out a fire with a hammer.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
If the concern is Spain’s capacity to manage an exceptional number of arrivals, there are other ways to respond, including supporting Spain, without restricting free movement across an internal Schengen border.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Schengen already has special rules for Ceuta and Melilla. Spain must maintain identity and document checks on sea and air connections departing from the two territories. People arriving in Ceuta cannot simply travel onwards to Italy or elsewhere in the Schengen area.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Italy has ordered the suspension of free movement with Spain following the arrival of more than 50,000 people from Morocco into Ceuta. But is this necessary?
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Munich Airport will build a migrant deportation facility, which will be leased to the federal government and used by the federal police. The terminal is intended to increase the number of deportations carried out from Germany. www.infomigrants.net/en/post/7250...
infomigrants.net
Munich Airport to build migrant deportation terminal
Munich Airport will build a migrant deportation facility, which will then be subsequently leased to the federal government and used by the federal police. The terminal is intended to increase the numb...
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
It is always sad to bid farewell at the end of these two weeks at the @mpc-eui.bsky.social. It took us only two weeks to create a community. We will now scatter around the world, but many of these human connections will last a lifetime. Long live the Migration Summer School!
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Looking for a simple trick to reduce human mobility? The United States is cutting the number of visa-processing embassies and consulates in Africa from 50 to 20. Nearly half the continent’s population will need to travel to another country to obtain a US visa. Via @thecontinent.org
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Capital buys mobility that most people will never have: wealthy individuals are increasingly shopping for second passports and tax-friendly residencies. This creates difficult questions: should citizenship become a luxury good? Can governments vet applicants? www.economist.com/business/202...
economist.com
The world’s wealthy are migrating like never before
A booming industry of advisers is easing their passage
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Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · 23/06/2026
#OpenAccess from @epsrjournal.bsky.social - Not all migrants are equal: public support for migrant welfare access by migrant type and social protection scheme - cup.org/44hn5Vj - Samir Mustafa Negash, @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social & @alexandreafonso.bsky.social #FirstView
Logo of the European Political Science Review, featuring the acronym 'EPSR' in large letters with the full name underneath and the hashtag '#OpenAccess' at the bottom, all set against a dual-tone background.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
The 22nd Migration Summer School is underway! 23 participants from 21 countries. 19 speakers from 13 countries. 10 days. First challenge: describe your workday in one word. The answers? Fieldwork, data, protection, triage, stress, grant-making, adrenaline, chaos, emergency... and “bureaucrazy”.
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European Political Science Review @epsrjournal.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
"Not all migrants are equal" 🥇 🥈 🥉 @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social, @fggaleiden.bsky.social's Samir Negash & @alexandreafonso.bsky.social drawn on experiments from Germany and the UK to evaluate the deservingness of citizens and different migrant categories across 4 welfare schemes buff.ly/EUExGVs
cambridge.org
Not all migrants are equal: public support for migrant welfare access by migrant type and social protection scheme | European Political Science Review | Cambridge Core
Not all migrants are equal: public support for migrant welfare access by migrant type and social protection scheme
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
I am also not going to be there, but always a pleasure to talk to you Will. I like that we randomly end up doing research projects on similar themes, we clearly have more than one interest in common! This paper seems really excellent.
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
The broader lesson is that "migrants" are not viewed as a single category. Public support for social rights varies systematically across migrant groups, welfare programmes, and institutional contexts. For researchers and policymakers, this means moving beyond simplistic, binary debates. 🧵 6/6
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Reciprocity matters as well. Migrants who have paid taxes and social contributions are often seen as more deserving than citizens who have not. Perceived contribution can offset exclusionary attitudes based on migration status. 🧵 5/6
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Lorenzo Piccoli @lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
The type of welfare programme matters too. People are often willing to provide urgent and essential healthcare to all, including undocumented migrants. When lives are at stake, legal status becomes much less important in people's evaluations. 🧵 4/6
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