Meloni has criticised Italy's approach towards
illegal immigrants,
[218] calling for a
zero-tolerance policy, and she wants to blockade migrants from reaching Italian ports,
[83] and boost the birth rate of Italian nationals to ease the need for migrant labour.
[219] She is opposed to
birthright citizenship proposals, which would give citizenship including education rights to immigrants born and living in Italy.
[220] She has linked
illegal immigration and crime, and
refugee arrivals to
human trafficking and prostitution.
[107] Amid the 2022 escalation of the
Russo-Ukrainian War, Meloni said she supported to give refugee status to those coming from a war-shaken country but not to
asylum seekers. She said: "It's time to call things by their name, to give refugee status to those fleeing war, women, and children, perhaps doing the opposite with those who aren't refugees."
[221] In August 2022, she reposted a
pixelated video on Twitter that shows a woman being raped by an asylum seeker.
[222] The victim of the violence decried the publication of the video and said she was recognised by the video posted.
[223] After receiving backlash, Meloni defended herself by accusing other politicians of not having condemned the rape itself.
[224][225]
Meloni has blamed
neo-colonialism for Africa's underdevelopment and the
2015 European migrant crisis, and she said she favours co-operation over what she termed
France's neocolonialism.
[226] She has been considered as opposed to the reception of migrants,
[227][228][229] as well as to
multiculturalism,
[230][231] and she has been accused of making
xenophobic statements,
[232][233][234] as well as of
Islamophobia.
[160][235][236] In 2018, she said she would welcome Venezuelans, saying they are Christians and often of Italian origins.
[237] She has often criticised
George Soros and what she terms
globalists, at times reflecting the views of
Soros conspiracy theories,
[216][238] once saying: "When you are a slave, you act in Soros's interests."
[239] She has endorsed the
Great Replacement, a
white nationalist conspiracy theory.
[216][240] She also believes there is a planned mass migration from Africa to Europe for the purpose of replacing and eliminating Italians, an
antisemitic,
white genocide, and
far-right conspiracy theory known as the
Kalergi Plan.
[241][242][243] She has described pro-immigration policies as part of an alleged left-wing conspiracy to "replace Italians with immigrants".
[220] In January 2017, she called
immigration to Italy "ethnic substitution".
[220]
