No More Blacks: A Day Without Immigrants

An answer to those opposed to immigration, this book explores what would happen if all immigrants disappeared on March 20th. Work at construction sites comes to an abrupt halt. The factories close. The fruit and vegetable markets are empty. The tomato fields in Puglia are left abandoned. The social security system is on the verge of collapse. The soccer, basketball, and volleyball seasons are put on hold, and many parishes find themselves without priests. In major Italian cities, half of all construction workers speak Romanian. In Abruzzo, 90% of sheep herders are Macedonian. In the Aosta Valley, the people making fontina cheese are migrant workers, and Italians make up less than 10% of the region’s 300 hillside communities. Foreign workers are crucial in the production of ham from Parma, buffalo mozzarella from Caserta, and wines from the province of Cuneo. Nearly 100,000 foreign nurses work in private healthcare, and the public transportation system is dependent on immigrants’ co-ops and small service providers. A day without immigrants would be a catastrophe.