Latest update: 31/12/2008 

- immigration - Italy


Thousands of migrants deported on arrival
Italy has deported some 2,300 migrants who arrived on Lampedusa island between Friday and Sunday, local officials have said. The tiny island is the focus of a massive clandestine immigration from across the Mediterranean.
FRANCE 2 / FRANCE 24 (video)

AFP - Italy on Tuesday deported 38 Egyptians within days of their arrival on tiny Lampedusa island, officials said, as figures showed a 75 percent increase in illegal immigrants arriving in 2008.
  
The Egyptians, who were among some 2,300 migrants who set foot on Lampedusa, south of Sicily, between Friday and Sunday, were sent back to their homeland by plane, local officials in the Sicilian town of Agrigento said.
  
Figures released by the Italian Interior Ministry showed around 36,900 illegal migrants arrived on Italian shores in 2008, a 75 percent increase on 2007.
  
The majority -- around 31,000 -- arrived on Lampedusa, according to figures quoted by the ANSA news agency.
  
The latest expulsions followed an announcement Monday by Interior Minister Roberto Maroni of the anti-immigration and populist Northern League party that "those who arrive in Lampedusa will be repatriated within days, directly from Lampedusa."
  
Until now migrants arriving on the island between the north African coast and Sicily have been transferred to reception centres across Italy after spending a few days in Lampedusa.
  
Processing their possible asylum requests or residence permits then usually took several weeks or months.

 

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we don't have to repatrate them.

well done guys,i have read and understand about the illegal immigrant coming into our country,i think is time we have to put a stop to it.we should make sure that they are no longer coming through the sea.but i also want us to know that they are all human just like we.we don't have to treat them back.for the fact that this ones have sesseded in crosing over i think we should grant them the asylum papers instead of sending them back home.baggio roberto

RE: Italy's Deportation of Migrants

I think the Italian government is quite right in deporting immigrants back to their home countries. I just wish the British government would take the same stance. I am not a racist in any way. I just think that the UK has enough problems of its own without continuing to add to them by allowing more immigrants in. The British government has let in far too many already and the majority are living on state handouts paid for of course, out of British taxpayers money. I know that there are plenty of British people who also live off state benefits - many who are justified in their claims but also many who are not. The amount of money that is paid out annually in state benefits here is phenomenal. No harm against immigrants but a lot of them know about Britain and its state benefits system and also it's free health care and I believe these are two of the main reasons why they all seem to want to come here. A lot of other countries in Europe do not have the same sort of benefits system - certainly not to the extent that we have here. They seem to get money for everything in this country and I'm including British people in this as a lot of them know how to 'work' the system too and get money for anything and everything.

Italy has its own problems too, just like the UK and also other countries like France, Spain, Germany etc and I can understand totally why a lot of people are truly sick and tired of the amount of immigrants their countries have let in and are continuing to let in, especially the UK as their doesn't seem to be any barriers on the amount they are letting in. It's about time they changed this and put a stop to it as we can't continue to keep letting all these immigrants in.

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