Italy expels 35 illegal immigrants back to Egypt

Italy says it has sent 35 illegal migrants back to Egypt, part of the government's tough measures on illegal immigration.

The Interior Ministry says the Egyptians were put on a Cairo-bound flight departing from Sicily before dawn on Thursday.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government has vowed to step up the fight against illegal immigrants, who many Italians link to street crime. It has passed measures that make it easier for authorities to expel foreigners and has proposed making illegal immigration a crime.

The ministry said in a statement that the Egyptians were being held in an identification center in Lampedusa, a tiny island closer to Africa than Sicily that has seen thousands of arrivals in recent years. - AP

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