Italy Overwhelmed by Record-Breaking Migrant Arrivals

A record-breaking number of illegal migrants arrived on Italy’s shores this weekend, leading Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to call an emergency meeting Monday to confront the situation.

On Saturday alone, 3,042 mostly African migrants arrived on the Italian peninsula and total arrivals for the year are over double the number from last year, Italy’s interior ministry reports.

As of Monday, Italy has registered 113,483 sea arrivals since January 1, compared with just 55,785 in the same period last year, the ministry reveals. The weekend’s totals surpassed 6,000 new arrivals with no signs of abating.

Euronews warned last week that Italy’s immigration crisis risks toppling the government of Giorgia Meloni, the country’s first female prime minister.

This year’s numbers are the highest since 2017 and could even surpass the prior yearly record of arrivals reached in 2016 with some 180,000 migrant arrivals over the 12-month period {snip}

In her opening speech to the Council of Ministers Monday, Meloni convened the Interministerial Committee for the Security of the Republic (Cisr) in order to “tackle the problem in a pragmatic way, with quick and coordinated decisions.”

Meloni also called for more efficient repatriation of clandestine immigrants and an investigation into “further legislative measures to combat illegal immigration and trafficking in human beings {snip}”

On the small Italian island of Lampedusa, an overwhelming 3,593 migrants currently reside in the island’s modest reception center (hotspot), including 193 unaccompanied minors {snip}

{snip}