Italy's decision to strengthen citizenship rules for the descendants of overseas immigrants has sparked a riot among the large Italian diaspora in the United States.

For a long time, Rome allowed any direct descendants who lived in Italy in 1861 to obtain an Italian passport.

But after a surge in applications in Latin America, Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government limited eligibility criteria to children and grandchildren of Italian nationals.

The rule came into effect in March and was codified into law on Tuesday, frustrated throughout the Atlantic Ocean, with some American citizens exploring relocation to Europe, especially after Donald Trump returns to the White House.

“People are very frustrated and frustrated,” said lawyer Marco Permunian, the founder of Italian citizen assistance, a non-governmental organization that helped Americans record their ancestors.

“The Italian American community has always been very proud of its legacy and many have accepted it very personally.” “Many of them are ready to resist this law. They are very motivated and they won’t let it go.”

People familiar with the matter say the Trump administration cracked illegal immigrants, fearing the number of Latinos who entered the United States without a visa and then stayed permanently.

The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment.

Meloni maintained a friendly relationship with Trump, who shared her difficult stance on immigration.

The United States is home to an estimated 16 million to 20 MN Italian Americans, with most of its ancestors immigrating in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when communities represented more than 10% of the U.S. population. During the same period, millions of people moved to Latin America.

Rome claimed that as many as 8 million people had more claims than the country's own population, according to the old rules. Authorities said the system was overloaded, with 60,000 applications from overseas backlog.

Meloni's government first strengthened the rules by issuing emergency decrees to immediately change the eligibility criteria. The government then moved the rules to law, with the final approval of the parliament on Tuesday.

American lawmakers warned that Rome's move "risks to alienate" thousands of Italian Americans who "spent a lot of time, energy and financial resources" to prepare to apply for Italian citizenship.

“The bridge between Italian and American countries is reassuring at the moment when transatlantic relations are under new pressure,” signed a letter by four co-chairs of the Italian U.S. Congress delegation.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani defended the move as a necessary response to the surge in Latinos' access to Italian passports, rather than moving Italy, but making it easier to travel to the United States and Europe.

“Granting citizenship is a serious matter,” he said. “It can’t be a tool to travel to Miami or elsewhere with the help of a European passport.”

Over the past decade, the number of Italian citizens living abroad has increased from 46,000 to 40% to over 64,000, driven primarily by an increasing number of dual citizens.

Italian Senator Marco Lisei, a member of Meloni's Italian Party, said Rome had no choice but to overhaul the rules by people with little interest in Italy.

"The conservative right has always believed that Italians abroad are the best ambassadors in Italy ... an extraordinary asset," he told the Bank of England (FT). "But then, there was a real flow of citizenship, which forced the government to intervene."

Rome's sudden moves angered the Italian diaspora in the United States as many realized their potential citizenship was blocked.

"One day you have the right to get it, the next day you are not," said Jacopo Zamboni, managing partner at London-based immigration consulting firm Henley & Partners. "It's sure to have a huge impact."

Groups such as the National Italian American Foundation and the American Daughter lobby to prevent emergency decrees from becoming permanent laws.

The NIAF has indeed won some concessions: people who apply for citizenship at an advanced stage, according to the old rules. Additionally, Rome allowed people who lost their Italian citizenship when their Italian passports were recalled.

It was not until 1992 that Italy realized dual nationality, so naturalized immigrants had to give up their Italian citizenship. The Italian government plans to also ban those dual nationals from obtaining Italian passports, but gave up after the strong lobby.

NIAF president Robert Allegrini said the association was “disappointed”, which would make the decline in Italian immigration “more difficult”.

Other reports on James Politics in Washington