France sent reinforcements to combat illegal immigration on the border with Italy, where pressure has increased, doubling this year compared to 2022, the French Government announced this Tuesday.
The number of immigrants arriving on the Italian coast has doubled this year compared to 2022 and many of them seek to continue their journey through France, crossing the Alps.
More than 107,000 immigrants and refugees have landed in Italy since January, more than double that of the same period in 2022 (52,954), according to data from the Italian Ministry of the Interior.
Immigration has been a very delicate issue in Franco-Italian relations for years.
“We have a 100% increase in flows, which affects the Alpes-Maritimes and all the Alps,” highlighted the French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, after a visit to the Menton border post, in the southeast of France, to announce the sending of reinforcements. .
Mobile units, police or gendarmes. [guardas militarizados]It will go from two to four, reaching a total of more than 200 agents.
The number of soldiers deployed for night reconnaissance in the mountains, within the framework of Operation Sentinel, will increase from 60 to 120 and the personnel on the borders will also double, the minister assured.
At the end of April, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne had already announced the deployment of 150 additional gendarmes and police in this area.
At the same time, law enforcement authorities can now use drones to monitor crossing points.
An immigration bill that plans to expand the strip of territory within which immigrants can be returned, currently set at 20 kilometers, will also be debated in the Senate this fall.
“Many technological means, better organization and, I hope, in the spring legislation that will help us fight more,” Darmanin stressed.
The French Interior Minister recognizes, however, that many factors, such as instability in the Sahel, could further increase migratory pressure.
Tunisia is, along with Libya, the main departure point for thousands of migrants crossing the central Mediterranean towards Europe, especially Italy.
More than two thousand people have died this year trying to cross the central Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which estimates that the real number is much higher.
Source: TSF
