Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with the Italian Cabinet on Monday to formulate new measures to combat the recent wave of illegal immigrants after being overwhelmed in one day by 7,000 migrants arriving on the Italian island of Lampedusa. The “extraordinary measures” will focus on those ineligible for asylum and will increase the time they can be held in detention up to the E.U. maximum of 18 months before being sent home. There has also been renewed talk of implementing a naval blockade of North Africa to prevent human traffickers from sending boats across the Mediterranean. Meloni visited Lampedusa over the weekend, along with E.U. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said, “We will decide who comes to the European Union, and under what circumstances. Not the smugglers.” Immigration to Europe has been divisive among the E.U. members who disagree on how best to deal with the problem, particularly with European Parliament elections coming next year.
