Ahhh...Springtime in Lampedusa

Yep, it's that time of the year again. And nope, I'm not talking sunbathing -- I'm talking clandestini. Tanti clandestini. Thanks to its mild climate, Mediterranean-style immigration is a year-round affair, but when springtime arrives, illegal immigration kicks into overdrive. The Italian island of Lampedusa, located 190 miles north of Libya and 130 miles south of Sicily, is a preferred entry point into the EU.

The immigrants arriving in Lampedusa usually depart from Libya, but most come from elsewhere: Morocco, Tunisia, Iraq, Kurdistan, Palestine, Senegal, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea. After a grueling trek to Libya -- some through the Sahara, some packed into shipping containers and then put onto freight liners -- the immigrants are then shuttled from the Libyan coast to Lampedusa by scafisti. The vessels often sink or capsize due to overcrowding, and high seas humanitarian disasters are frequent.

On Wednesday morning close to 500 clandestini arrived on the shores of Lampedusa; on Tuesday morning 171. All of this on a tiny speck of an island ( 12.5 square miles -- half the size of Manhattan) whose temporary detention center is built to hold only 190 occupants. The immigrants are usually brought to Sicily, released (penniless) and told that they must leave Italy within 5 days. Many move north to find work in Naples, Rome, Milan or Turin; others go farther north to Germany, France, Belgium, Holland or Denmark.