Italy: Illegal migrant landings pass 100k for first time since 2017

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The number of illegal immigrant landings in Italy has pushed past 100,000 for the first time since 2017, as the Italian government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni struggles to deal with waves of boat landings.

Italian Interior Ministry statistics claim that this week the number of illegal arrivals stood at 100,354 since the start of the year, a number that has greatly surpassed last year’s total of 64,055 as Italy has seen a relentless number of migrant boats land on its shores.

The number of landings is the largest since 2017 when a total of 119,310 arrived in Italy as numbers have been steadily rising since 2020, Il Giornale reports.

So far this year, Egyptians are the largest single nationally represented among the migrants arriving in Italy, with Afghans closely behind them. So far, the number of Egyptians arriving in 2022 has reached over 20,000 compared to last year when 8,352 arrived.

While most migrants arrive in Italy from North Africa, 2022 has also seen a surge of those travelling by boat from Turkey, with hundreds of ships making the voyage in 2022.

Earlier this year in September, some had predicted that over 100,000 migrants would arrive in Italy by the end of the year and so far despite winning the Italian national elections that same month, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been able to do little to stop the boats from arriving at the same pace.

The government has, however, vowed to take on migrant taxi NGOs operating in the Mediterranean, which have been responsible for dropping off over 10,000 migrants in Italy this year.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi vowed to crack down on NGO activity in October saying the vessels operated by the NGOs were “not in line with the spirit of European and Italian rules on security and border control and the fight against illegal immigration.”

The Italian government is not alone in criticising the activity of the NGOs, as the European Union border agency Frontex has also claimed that their activity encourages migrants to cross the sea, some dying in the process.