The town's Northern League Mayor, Franco Claretti, ordered the move after receiving new powers that entitled him to check the residency status of all foreigners in the town, which has a total population of around 8,500, Northern League member Claudio Abiendi, the councillor in charge of security in the town, which is an hour's drive east of Milan, said that so far 50 per cent of those checked did not have permission to be in Italy. Commenting on the timing of the policy, he told La Repubblica newspaper: "For me Christmas isn't the holiday of hospitality, but rather that of the Christian tradition and of our identity."