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10 days after rescue, Italy lets all migrants leave a ship

10 days after rescue, Italy lets all migrants leave a ship | iNFOnews.ca
Italian Deputy Premier and Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, speaks at a Lega party's meeting in Pinzolo, Italy, Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018. Italian state TV says Italy's interior minister is being investigated for his role in forbidding migrants rescued at sea to disembark. Minister Matteo Salvini indirectly confirmed the report Saturday, tweeting that a Sicilian prosecutor asked him for his data and that "if he wants to interrogate me or even arrest me because I defend the borders and security of my country, I'm proud." But Salvini said he'll soon allow the migrants he had kept on an Italian coast guard ship for days to leave. (Daniele Panato/ANSA via AP)

ROME – Ten days after they were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea, Italy has allowed all the migrants stuck on an Italian coast guard ship to disembark.

Early Sunday, 137 migrants left the Diciotti, stepping onto the dock at Catania, Sicily, where police photographed them for ID checks, a requirement for asylum-seekers.

Italy’s populist government had not let them leave the ship earlier, demanding that other European Union countries take them. Only Ireland did, pledging to take 20. Non-EU Albania will take 20, while Italian Catholic bishops said they would care for about 100.

On Aug. 16, the Diciotti’s crew rescued 190 migrants, most from Eritrea, from a smuggling boat. The others, including minors and ailing migrants, were allowed off earlier.

Italy has threatened economic reprisals against the EU for not helping it enough with migrants.

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Abbey Westbury

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