As many as 65,000 illegal
immigrants already have arrived in Italy by sea this year, more
than in the entire previous record year of 2011, the Interior
ministry said Monday.
In 2011 some 63,000 illegal immigrants were recorded but
ministry statisticians predict that as many as 100,000 could
land on the peninsula and its islands in 2014 unless action is
taken in countries such as Libya to prevent departures of
Africans and others trying to reach Europe illegally, the
ministry said.
In all 61,585 foreigners have landed in Italy this year
while nearly 5000 others will be dropped off in Italian ports
over the next two days after they were rescued in the
Mediterranean over the past 24 hours by Italian Navy ships
deployed to help clandestine immigrants as part of Operation
Mare Nostrum and by Italian merchant ships, the ministry said.
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