- silence

- Two weeks ago we told you about the directive adopted by MEPs to facilitate the return of undocumented immigrants.

- A controversial directive. You should know that today 30,000 foreigners live in detention centers on the European continent.

- Among these centers this is tonight the one on the island of Lampedusa in Italy. Our team followed its activity and the coastguards.

- This is the Grand format of tonight and it is signed by Philippe Visseyrias and Karine Guillaumain.

- silence

- They landed at night on a secluded beach on the island, exhausted after days at sea, happy to have survived the crossing.

- First contact, first glass of water. Physicians have to quickly identify those who need care.

- We are checking their state of health and apparently they're fine.

- Carabinieri are worked up. This week these arrivals are everyday life. The device is well established.

- A bus comes immediately to pick them up then they are taken to the emergency reception center located away from habitations.

- At the heart of Lampedusa, the gates close. They will no longer be allowed to leave.

- silence

- Lampedusa, a piece of Europe 100 kilometers away from the African coast. The next morning, the island wakes up, no one knows about these arrivals of illegal immigrants.

- For Italians, with its turquoise waters, it is primarily a holiday paradise.

- If we start thinking about it, it is not easy. We're here to have fun and they risk their lives and sometimes die.

- On the port only those Libyan fishing boats seized by coastguards remind the daily odyssey of those who risk their lives to reach Europe.

- Inside the detention center, the accommodation capacities are saturated. Sometimes the tension is rising because of phone cards or cigarettes questions.

- Modern structures partly funded by the European Union which have replaced for a year the old dilapidated center.

- Single men on one side, families and single women on the other.

- They come from Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, West Africa and Maghreb.

- All paid 2,000 dollars to Libyan smugglers. Some believed they were dying during the crossing.

- silence

- We were lost at sea and there was nothing to drink nor to eat, nothing.

- And people were completely distraught. There are people who jumped into the water, others who screamed.

- In a corner, the delegate of the International Organization for Immigration tries to explain what they have to expect.

- Europe that closes its doors, Italy that considers illegal immigrant as an offender liable to imprisonment.

- silence

- They absolutely don’t realize what are our laws.

- They are convinced that they can stay in Italy and find a job even if they have been smuggled.

- A tightening up of EU legislation that doesn’t shake their determination.

- I need a job. I have no work. I am 30 years old. In my country, I didn’t find any job.

- silence

- For all, Lampedusa is only one step. We can not stay here for more than seven days.

- Illegal immigrants are regularly transferred on the continent to other detention centers and often from there took back to their country.

- Off the coast of the island, Italian coastguards patrol day and night. They are the ones that catch most boats.

- Their planes signal every craft in distress.

- Here we see that this is a continent that pushes northward. So many poor people for whom Europe is everything.

- Since the beginning of the year, more than 9,000 illegal immigrants arrived. This is more than last year at the same period. This proves that here the migratory flow doesn’t lower.