Tunisian Influx Taxes Italy

ROME—Political instability in Tunisia has unleashed a wave of migrants toward Italian shores, igniting a crisis that has exposed the pitfalls of Italy’s reliance on North African regimes to act as gatekeepers.

Boats carrying more than 3,700 migrants from Tunisian ports arrived in Italy over the weekend, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The landings have overwhelmed Italian officials, prompting the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to declare a state of emergency. On Saturday, one migrant drowned when a boat carrying him and other migrants sank.

The exodus stems from the political vacuum that has followed the toppling of former Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. For years, Italy has relied on regimes in Tunisia, Libya and other North African countries to contain the flow of migrants to Europe, providing the regimes with financial and military aid.

That approach is now coming apart at the seams. The unraveling also underscores the European Union’s overall failure to forge a comprehensive policy for dealing with migrants who, though arriving in southern European countries like Italy and Spain, are bound for richer economies such as France and Germany. Italian officials are concerned that unrest in Egypt and other countries in the region could add to the flow.

“There’s a political and institutional earthquake that risks having a devastating impact on Europe through Italy,” Interior Minister Roberto Maroni told Italian TV on Sunday.

Tunisian authorities that once policed the country’s coastline for human traffickers and boats bound for European shores have melted away in recent weeks, according to Federico Fossi, a Rome-based official for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. “Many people are taking advantage of the scarce presence of Tunisian police to abandon the country.”

Since Friday, scores of small boats brimming with migrants have taken to the sea, encouraged by a recent spate of mild weather along the Mediterranean coasts. Most have been intercepted by the Italian Coast Guard in international waters and taken to the tiny Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, about 150 miles off the coast of Tunisia.

Italy usually returned undocumented migrants to Tunisia when the country was under Mr. Ben Ali’s regime. Now, however, it is unclear if Tunisia will accept expelled migrants or whether Tunisian migrants who have fled the unrest at home are eligible for refugee status under Italian law.

The crisis has been exacerbated by Italy’s apparent lack of infrastructure for handling large waves of migrants. An immigration center on Lampedusa, capable of holding 800 people, was shut down last year, because the flow of migrants had seemingly stemmed.

On Sunday, however, the government was scrambling to reopen the center. In the meantime, a fleet of military cargo planes has been ferrying migrants from Lampedusa to immigration centers on the Italian peninsula. Most of the migrants, however, remain on the tiny island, camping on football fields.

The flood of migrants has overwhelmed the island’s food and sanitary facilities. Many migrants have refused the government’s attempts to transfer them to immigration centers, fearing the move will pave the way for expulsion from Italy.

Write to Stacy Meichtry at stacy.meichtry@wsj.com