Salvini takes military ships against rescue …

Italian Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini
hardened his anti-immigration policy and announced that he will deploy military ships in their ports to further block the entry of boats with castaways. In the midst of controversy with the NGOs that are rescuing the people of the Mediterranean because of Rome's refusal to land on national soil, the national committee of order and security chaired by Salvini has ordered the "Presence of the Navy and Finance Guards to defend the Italian ports," according to a statement from his portfolio.

Among the measures with which Italy will seek to strengthen its policy of "closed ports" also include "increased controls to reduce shipments" in the main countries of origin of the maritime migration flow, such as than Tunisia and Libya. As justification, Salvini said he wanted to "make the fight against human trafficking more effective and increase the penalties for traffickers".

The Deputy Prime Minister, head of the Liga right, said that authorizing the landing of NGOs in Italian ports promoted illegal immigration and gave traffickers the opportunity to cross the Mediterranean.

After the arrest of the captain of the ship Sea Watch and the confiscation of the yacht Alex – from the Mediterranean NGO – the ship "Alan Kurdi" of the German company Sea-Eye yesterday announced the rescue of 44 migrants off the coast of Libya . "Alan Kurdi", who had been banned from entering Maltese and Italian waters, is the third lifeboat that challenges these policies. An Italian customs vessel also took 47 migrants Tuesday to the Sicilian port of Pozzallo, Italian press reported. Half of them were Tunisians.

In addition to supporting its demand for "closed ports", Salvini said in recent weeks that the rest of the European countries were acting with "solidarity" for the distribution of shipwrecks that reach the continent through Italian ports.

According to data from the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, 666 people have died or disappeared in the Mediterranean this year, while another 27,959 have arrived in the European continent by sea.

For Salvini, who reported "a greater concentration of flows from Tunisia", it is necessary to strengthen, also "with the support of Europe", the maritime surveillance capabilities, through an integrated system "on radar stations and operational structures".