MojNews- Italy ’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Tuesday closed a migrant center in Sicily that he said was the largest in Europe.

Salvini, underlining a decrease in migrant arrivals since he took over a year ago, told reporters in Mineo, Sicily, that that the number of migrants in such centers is down from ۱۸۲,۰۰۰ a year ago to ۱۰۷,۰۰۰ now.

The ministry’s figures show that ۳,۰۷۳ migrants arrived in Italy so far this year, compared with ۱۷,۰۰۰ in the same period last year and ۸۵,۰۰۰ a year earlier. Those figures include ۴۷ migrants brought to shore in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo early Tuesday by Italy’s financial police agency, AP said.

Salvini has refused to allow humanitarian rescue ships into Italian ports, but some migrant boats continue to arrive in Italy by their own means.