POZZALLO, Sicily -- Italian authorities on Monday broke up an unofficial migrants tent camp in the town of Ventimiglia near the French border, while European officials predicted an uptick in dangerous sea crossings.
The migrants in Ventimiglia, from Eritrea and other African countries as well as Pakistan and Bangladesh, had been camping out for weeks or months in hopes of slipping into France while eluding document controls.
After Ventimiglia's mayor ordered the camp in his city dismantled, police rounded up migrants for identification. Minors were taken to social services centers. Only adults who had international protection documents were allowed to stay in Ventimiglia.
The Italian news agency ANSA said about 95 migrants were transferred to centers in Bari, southern Italy, and Catania, Sicily, for repatriation.
Many of Ventimiglia's residents provided free meals, blankets and other aid to the migrants while they camped in the seaside town.
Populist movements in Italy have sought to capitalize on the issue of migration, insisting the number of arrivals is rising quickly and accusing Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of inaction. Renzi hit back at his critics on Monday.
"We save as many lives as possible, knowing that there is no invasion," Renzi said in a weekly emailed newsletter. "The numbers are still the same, more or less."
Renzi said he was hopeful that "finally something is moving" and that the European Union may agree to his Migration Compact package of proposals including investments in the migrants' countries of origin. In the past, Italy has accused the EU of neglecting its struggle with migration.
About 46,100 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean Sea to reach Italy so far this year, with almost a third of them arriving last week alone, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
The total up to Sunday was equivalent to the same period in 2015, with about 14,000 arriving last week, agency spokesman Carlotta Sami said in a telephone interview. More than 700 migrants perished in three shipwrecks last week.
According to witnesses quoted in Italian newspapers, about 40 children were among those who drowned in one of last week's shipwrecks. Their boat set out from Libya and sank after passengers struggled for six hours to bail out the water leaking in. The captain of another vessel that had been pulling it ordered the tow rope to be cut.
"We expect a slight increase in coming weeks," Sami said. "We're concerned that crossings are concentrated in certain weeks, which makes it difficult for rescue services to help people."
There is no indication thus far that migrant flows are shifting to the central Mediterranean from the Aegean route to Greece, which was shut down by the EU's pact with Turkey to stem the migrant flow. Those making the crossing to Italy mostly originate from the Horn of Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, with a very small number of Syrians. Sami said migrants are increasingly setting out from Libya aboard fishing boats packed with up to 550 people, rather than the rubber dinghies used most often.
Channel crossing
In the U.K., there have been few cases of migrants trying to cross the English Channel in small boats, but several recent events are raising safety and security concerns.
Some migrants stymied by heightened security at the Channel Tunnel linking England and France are turning to dangerous, illegal boat trips.
John Vine, former chief inspector of borders and immigration, said Monday that migrants could end up drowning in the English Channel as they have in the Mediterranean. He said the British government does not have a contingency plan to deal with a possible rise in people trafficking.
"In the context of small ports, we just don't know the extent of this," he said on BBC Radio. "Clearly if this is now the start of something new, then really that needs to be reassessed and resources need to be put in."
Two British men were charged with immigration offenses Monday after the weekend rescue of 18 Albanians whose small inflatable boat was taking on water in the English Channel, government officials said.
The Home Office said Mark Stribling, 35, and Robert Stilwell, 33, appeared at Medway Magistrates' Court and will be kept in custody until the next court hearing June 27.
The Albanians are being questioned by U.K. Border Forces in Dover. The charges filed Monday suggest human traffickers are organizing illicit trips.
Britain has only three cutters actively patrolling its coastline, which has hundreds of small ports with accessible harbors.
Lucy Moreton, general secretary of the Immigration Services Union, said much of the coast is unprotected and officials do not know how many people fleeing poverty and warfare have entered.
She said it is "inevitable" that numbers will go up because so many migrants are in transit.
Officials said two Britons and 18 Albanians were on the boat when it got into trouble off the coast of Kent. It's not clear if the two Britons on board are the men charged. The early Sunday rescue involved a search-and-rescue helicopter and lifeboats from several English ports.
EU-Turkey deal
Turkey, long a gateway for migrants headed for Europe, is making progress on measures that need to be passed before visa-free travel to the European Union can be instituted, a top EU official said Monday.
Turkey must meet 72 conditions to get the visa waiver, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters that "so far, 69 or 70 are fulfilled."
The visa offer is part of a deal to persuade Turkey to stop migrants coming to Europe. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the deal could collapse if the Europeans renege on visas.
Despite the increasing animosity between both sides since the deal was clinched in March, the migrant influx through Turkey into the EU has dwindled. On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended cooperation with Turkey.
"This Turkey agreement is a model of the balancing out of our interests: That people don't die at our borders, that our borders are protected," Merkel told a party meeting of her European People's Party group.
The main sticking point remains anti-terror laws in Turkey, which Erdogan refuses to change.
"The question remains open what Turkey does with the changes of the anti-terror laws. This is a condition of the European Union," Juncker said.
The other sticking points are centered on disagreements on the use of biometric passports.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus insisted that Turkey's determination to seal the deal on visa-free travel was strong.
"We don't want Turkey's serious stance on the issue to be abused," he said.
To boost talks, Kurtulmus said that the country's minister of EU affairs would visit Brussels "in the coming days."
Information for this article was contributed by Gregory Katz, Raf Casert and staff members of The Associated Press and by John Follain, Ian Wishart and Ben Sills of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 05/31/2016