[adnkronos.com] The conservative Italian government is planning to more than triple the
1,200 illegal immigrants that can currently be held in the country’s 11
detention centres, unnamed officials have told Adnkronos.
Ministers were due to meet on Thursday to identify sites where the
new centres could be located to hold 4,000-4,500 immigrants within the
next few months.
Feasibility studies are being carried out this week and the new
centres are likely to be housed in former military barracks and
military facilities, as well as disused prisons.
Closeness to airports and non-proximity to residential areas will
be factors in locating the new detention centres. The government wants
to have one such centre in every Italian region.
Sites under consideration include the southern city of Caserta, the
northern towns of Boscomantico and Tessera in the Veneto region,
Grosseto and Campi Bisenzio in Italy’s central Tuscany region and
Falconara, close to the Adriatic port city of Ancona in the Marche
region.
Detailed costings for the new immigrant detention centres are not
yet available, but it is estimated they will cost tens of millions of
euros to build.
The move follows an increase in the period of time illegal
immigrants can be held in Italian detention centres from two to six
months as part of measures contained in a tough new emergency security
decree issued by the government last Friday.
The government says the new detention centres will enable Italian
authorities to more efficiently identify illegal immigrants and
asylum-seekers, and expel those who are not entitled to remain in Italy.
Source: http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.3054294534
