Asylum claims up 30% over last year says interior ministry

(ANSA) - Rome, October 13 - The interior ministry said Tuesday 137,000 migrants made it to Italy and 61,000 asylum claims have been filed so far this year.
    The latter number is up 30% over last year, Interior Undersecretary Domenico Manzione told a hearing of a parliamentary investigative commission on migrant and refugee reception. Manzione said the government has doubled the number of asylum examination boards and their productivity almost doubled since last year, with 46,000 rulings in 2015 against 27,000 in 2014.
    He added the government has asked the courts to set aside special judges to rule in cases of rejected asylum claim appeals, because right now that process can take as long as 18 months and the government is "concerned" about that.