Italian island turns into EU gateway for illegal immigrants

(ATHENS) - The Italian island of Lampedusa has replaced the Greek-Turkish border as Europe's gateway for illegal immigrants as many flee violence in North Africa, the European Union's border agency said Tuesday.

The Mediterranean island has seen thousands of arrivals of migrants and refugees by boat mainly from Tunisia and Libya this year, often in dangerous conditions that have cost lives at sea.

Most of the arrivals from Libya are migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa.

The number of illegal immigrants stopped at EU borders more than doubled in the first quarter of 2011 to 32,906 compared to the same period last year, border agency Frontex said.

Two-thirds of that figure was counted in Lampedusa, the Warsaw-based agency said.

On Saturday, three boats carrying 667 African refugees from Libya including many women and children arrived at Lampedusa, following some 900 arrivals in late May.

Last year the Greek-Turkish border became the main entry-point for illegal immigrants after Spain and Italy clamped down their borders.

European and Turkish authorities beefed up border controls between November 2010 and March 2011, slashing the number of daily transits that were detected to 52 from around 250 at the start of the operation.