The number of illegal immigrants arriving in Italy is growing, with new figures showing over 50,000 illegals have entered the country so far this year as numbers have continued at a high rate so far in August.
According to data from the Italian Interior Ministry, Italy topped 50,000 illegal arrivals last week on Friday, and as of Monday it had recorded a total of 50,760 arrivals — a significant rise from 2021, when there were 35,480 arrivals during the same period.
Italian authorities are estimating that, by the end of the year, the country could see as many as 77,000 migrants arrive, which would be the largest number since 2017, Il Giornale reports.
So far in August, according to statistics from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), over 9,100 migrants have arrived in the country, continuing the trend from July in which 13,197 migrants arrived — a figure larger than the entire year of 2019.
Both the UNHCR and Italian Interior Ministry data show that just three nationalities make up the majority of migrants to Italy: Egyptians, Tunisians, and Bangladeshis.
None of these migrants’ countries are currently in a state of war.
Indeed, last year just 15 per cent of the illegal arrivals in Italy who attempted to claim asylum were actually granted refugee status, while the majority were deemed to be claiming unjustifiably.
Domenico Pianese, general secretary of the police union Coisp, has highlighted the toll the landings are taking on police, stating some are working shifts of up to 18 hours to deal with the continuous arrivals.
“What is happening these days in Trapani, in the First Reception Center of Milo and in the hotspots throughout Sicily, is decidedly aberrant: dozens of agents in addition to having to do shifts of even 18 hours continuous without water and without any protection, are constantly diverted from the control of the territory to have to devote themselves without respite to the management of migratory flows that in this period have increased dramatically,” Pianese said.
“This situation is occurring in a province where the control of the territory should be a priority for the State and for all the Police Forces, given the strong incidence of organized crime,” he added.