Afrasianet - Reports coming from Rome on Tuesday revealed that Italy is planning to deport all Tunisians illegally living in the country, pointing out that many of them are involved in a few cases of theft, drug trafficking and violence.

On its Tuesday issue, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that the new Italian government is preparing to launch a massive campaign to expel “illegal immigrants” in the coming weeks.

The newspaper said that Tunisia ranked first in terms of the number of illegal immigrants coming to Italy, noting that more than 2,800 Tunisian immigrants arrived in Italy recently.

Right-wing newspaper Il Giornale quoted Salvini as saying that: “The priority of the new Italian government and the Interior Ministry is to stop the influx of migrants coming from Tunisia and Algeria”.

The Italian Interior Minister sharply criticized Tunisia, accusing it of exporting criminals to his country, saying that 40,000 Tunisians were residing in Italy illegally.

Tunisia called the Italian ambassador, informing him of it surprise by the comments made by his country’s new interior minister, Matteo Salvini, on Sunday regarding the migration of Tunisians to Italy.

This coincides with the announcement of the Tunisian officials of the death of at least 60 migrants after the sinking of their boat, which was heading to Italy, in one of the worst incidents of immigrants death for years.

The Tunisian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the boat was carrying 180 migrants and sank off the coast of Kerkennah Qirqneh, a tourist destination in southern Tunisia, and carried migrants from Tunisia and other countries.