Posted on Fri, May. 8, 2009


In the World

Italy defies U.N., returns migrants
ROME - Italy returned more than 200 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea to Libya yesterday, defying the U.N. refugee agency but claiming a major victory in its crackdown on illegal immigration.

The 227 migrants were brought back to Tripoli aboard two coast guard boats and a border police boat without having set foot on Italian soil, Francesco Maugeri, a customs and border police commander, said from the Sicilian island of Lampedusa.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni called the operation a historic "turning point" in Italy's crackdown on illegal immigration made possible because of an agreement signed with Libya, from where the boat started.

The agreement allows Italy to send back migrants who leave from Libyan coasts and are intercepted before reaching Italian shores, the ministry said in a statement.

- AP
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us ... World.html

Italy Returns 227 Migrants to Libya


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By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
Published: May 8, 2009

ROME — The Italian government said Thursday that the return of 227 migrants to Libya before they could land in Italy should be adopted as the new model for dealing with illegal immigration and be extended to the rest of Europe.

“For the first time we have affirmed the principle of repulsion in Mediterranean waters to the country from which the migrants had left, not their country of origin,â€