Mediterranean migrant route - Page 3

Libyan authorities intercepted 30,990 migrants heading for Europe in 2021 according to UN statistics, a trebling of the year prior.

Nearly one-third of occupants in Italian prisons are migrants, with the latest official data showing over 17,000 prisoners came from abroad.

35,000 illegal migrants landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2021, an all-time record for arrivals.

The German migrant taxi NGO Sea-Watch has picked up 446 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea over the Christmas weekend.

Around 800 migrants are on three different NGO migrant “taxi” ships are awaiting port access after being picked up in the Mediterranean. 

The first witnesses in the trial of former Italian deputy prime minister and minister of the interior Matteo Salvini have been heard, with Admiral Sergio Liardo claiming that Salvini was not alone in responsibility for blocking an NGO migrant taxi in 2019.

Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi revealed that his country has seen a six-fold increase in migrant landings since 2019, and called for help from the European Union in dealing with the ongoing crisis.

A teen Tunisian ‘influencer’ took criticism after she posted videos online of her aboard a boat of illegal immigrants heading to Italy. 

Ten people were found dead at the bottom of an overcrowded wooden boat packed with 99 surviving migrants and refugees.

ROME (AP) – The Italian Coast Guard rescued 125 migrants who were spotted huddling together on the rocky shore of a tiny uninhabited isle at dawn Thursday, after one of their two boats partially sunk near Lampedusa island.

More than 500 migrants arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa on Saturday, with several of them allegedly showing signs of abuse and torture.

After 18 new migrant boat landings in just two days, the reception centre on the island of Lampedusa now houses 900 people, despite only having space for 250. In 24 hours alone, some 600 migrants arrived on the island as

Italy’s Interior Ministry has revealed that from August 1st, 2020, to July 31st of this year, 49,280 arrived illegally in the country.

Illegal migrant landings have increased by nearly sevenfold since leftist Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese took over from Matteo Salvini in 2019.

In 2020, just 3,351 illegal migrants of the 34,133 who arrived in Italy that year were deported, but it still cost the Italian taxpayer millions of euros.

An Italian anti-terrorism prosecutor has expressed concerns that radical Islamic jihadists are among the wave of illegal migrants coming to Europe from North Africa.

At least 17 migrants drowned and more than 300 were rescued by Tunisian and Libyan naval units in the Mediterranean.

In the first six months of this year, at least 1,146 people have drowned in the Mediterranean as people smugglers resume operations to help migrants illegally cross the sea to Europe.

Lampedusa has seen nonstop landings of illegal migrant boats over the last several days, with hundreds arriving on the Italian island.

A vessel operated by the NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF/Doctors Without Borders) with 410 migrants on board arrived at an Italian port Thursday afternoon after over 1,200 migrants arrived in a single day last weekend at Lampedusa.

The Italian coastguard detained the German migrant taxi NGO Sea-Eye on Friday after the NGO had dropped off 415 migrants in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo. The coastguard announced the blocking of the NGO’s vessel, the Sea-Eye 4, on Saturday

Italian media have accused NGOs of exploiting photographs of dead children to increase public support for migrant taxi operations in the Mediterranean Sea.

Members of Matteo Salvini’s League have slammed an expected relocation of migrants to the party’s heartlands in Italy’s north, with some stating they will not accept any new arrivals.

(AFP) — Italy is pushing EU partners to revive migrant burden-sharing deals as it seeks to stave off a summertime surge in landings from North Africa, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Wednesday.

The Italian government is in a race against time to acquire new facilities for incoming migrants as arrivals surge and ships previously used for quarantine will soon no longer be available.

French populist party leader Marine Le Pen denounced the activities of migrant taxi NGOs, linking them to people trafficking and “modern slavery”.

The German migrant taxi NGO Sea-Watch dropped off 454 migrants in the Sicilian port city of Trapani this week after Italian authorities granted the vessel port access.

More than 100 Europe-bound migrants are feared dead in a shipwreck off Libya, independent rescue groups said.

The UNHCR has revealed an increase in migrants departing Libya as migration numbers have increased across the Mediterranean so far this year.

Luca Casarini, head of the Italian migrant taxi NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans, defended receiving money from a Danish shipping corporation after his ship transferred migrants from a Danish vessel last year.

The Italian migrant transport NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans has been accused of taking €125,000 to transport illegal aliens, with new claims alleging the group initially asked for as much as €270,000.

Policemen on the migrant hotspot island of Lampedusa have complained they are not getting enough protection after ten officers tested positive for the Wuhan virus.

As warmer and calmer weather on the Mediterranean sea approaches, the new Italian government is conflicted on illegal immigration as Matteo Salvini’s ally becomes undersecretary to the interior minister.

People traffickers in the Mediterranean sea are allegedly using pregnant women as “weapons” to encourage public sympathy for mass migration.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has defended his strong stance against mass migration, saying the European Union’s relaxed attitude towards illegal border crossings “has turned the Mediterranean into a cemetery”.

Italian courts are currently overwhelmed with thousands of asylum seeker cases, as migrants appeal their asylum rejections.