ROME, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Italy's Interior Ministry has ordered the closure of the country's air and maritime borders with Spain, following an assessment of the latest intelligence on immigration and border security, according to a report of Italy's ANSA news agency on Friday.
The decision effectively suspended the Schengen free movement regime between the two countries and was taken after a meeting chaired by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi on Friday morning.
Relations between Italy and Spain are tense after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani proposed that Spain be suspended from the visa-free Schengen travel zone, as thousands of migrants managed to enter Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta on Thursday and Friday, said ANSA.
"The images coming from Ceuta are striking and demonstrate, once again, that uncontrolled illegal immigration poses a concrete threat to the security of Europe's borders," Meloni wrote on X on Thursday.
"We will not yield an inch on illegal immigration: defending borders, stopping human traffickers, and ensuring effective repatriations will continue to be this government's line," Meloni wrote.
Spanish authorities estimated that around 50,000 migrants entered Ceuta from neighboring Morocco over the past two days, marking one of the largest irregular migration crises ever recorded at the enclave's border.
The death toll among those attempting to reach Ceuta by sea had risen to 57 by Friday. ■