Now that Switzerland has closed its borders to refugees, the Italian town of Lake Como has become overrun with refugees that have no place to go. This poses a major problem to the townspeople who can't take a walk in the beautiful lakeside parks without seeing foreigners camped out on benches and streets.
Also living among the wealthy locals is Hollywood A-lister George Clooney, who enjoys a four-month stay every year in his multi-million dollar, 30-room mansion right on the lake. When he's not staying there, he rents it out to his pals Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Clooney even married his wife Amal at the residence.
But the locals don't have the same luxuries to be shielded from the realities of living there on a daily basis. The Daily Mail published quotes from their perspective:
Restaurant owner Maria Grazia told MailOnline: ‘I don’t want them here. Italy has enough problems without trying to solve the problems of the world. We [Italy] should not have to deal with these people on our own. Europe [the EU] does nothing to help us. Now they make us – me, my family and other Italian families – pay for them.’
Housewife Federica, 55, said: ‘A small number of immigrants is not a problem but now they are so many. You see them arriving at that the San Giovanni station. They are not poor hungry refugees but they are big and strong. People here in Como don’t like them. There are simply too many of them.’
Tour guide Denise, 67, added: ‘Immigration here in Italy is a problem, a big problem because of the huge numbers who are arriving all the time.’
Chauffeur Santi, 26, said: ‘It is good for Switzerland that they have closed the border to migrants but it is bad for Italy. We simply don’t have the resources to deal with all these new people. Italy has lots of problems of our own without having to try to deal with other people’s problems. It is a complex situation.'
However, Clooney has been a very vocal supporter of refugees and personally offered to help Chancellor Angela Merkel with the refugee crisis in Germany. Not only that, while there promoting one of his movies, Clooney met one-on-one with refugee families.
But what's a compassionate, multi-millionaire aristocrat like Clooney going to do when his standard of living is compromised by having to step over migrants camped out on his lawn?
We're sure he'll invite them in. There's plenty of room!
