Despite crackdown, more illegal immigrants in Italy
Fri Aug 15, 2008 9:16am EDT

ROME (Reuters) - The number of illegal immigrants entering Italy nearly doubled in the first seven months of 2008 despite a clampdown by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's new conservative government, data showed on Friday.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni told a news conference 15,378 "clandestini" had arrived in Italy between January and July, up from 8,266 last year.

He said expulsions over the same period had also risen, by 15 percent, while repatriations were up 58 percent.

Berlusconi's government took office in May after winning a landslide victory on a platform that promised to crack down on illegal immigration and crime.

One of the government's first measures was a security package making illegal immigration a jailable offence and hastening deportations.

Maroni, a member of the anti-immigration Northern League, was also behind a plan to fingerprint Roma people living in nomad camps -- a move dropped after strong criticism from human rights groups and European Union lawmakers.

Earlier this month, the government sent 3,000 soldiers to Italian cities to help police fight crime, which is widely blamed on immigrants. Of the 37 people arrested since the army was deployed on August 4, 33 were non-EU nationals, Maroni said.

However, he said the number of criminal offences in Italy had fallen in recent months. He did not give figures, saying he wanted to assess whether the government's policies had contributed to the fall.
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNew ... 7420080815