A few yards from an invisible line where Italy meets France, a bright sign welcomes travelers' Ventimiglia, the gateway to Italy, where beauty has no boundaries. " But hundreds of Tunisian immigrants waiting to cross to France are more interested in leaving the city in northern Italy, where they have been caught in a dispute between Paris and Rome highlighting tensions over immigration to Europe.
Taxi drivers say that immigrants pay to carriers for contraband entering. Others prefer to risk their lives in 'The path of death', one of several mountain roads used by Italians to escape fascism during the Second World War. France, former colonial government of Tunisia has a strong attraction for many immigrants from North Africa, hoping to join relatives already living there.
Most speak French and see better opportunities to find employment. But Karim, 29, a carpenter with a common visa in Italy are at home to care for his younger brother, Europe is not the promised land for immigrants' dreams. "They come here thinking they will find a paradise, but will only head against the wall," he said in fluent Italian barracks in a former fire, used as temporary shelter for immigrants in the outskirts of Ventimiglia.
Italy is issuing temporary permits for those wishing to travel to other European countries, but France is refusing to accept them and the police show has been sending back immigrants who try to cross the border. French Interior Minister, Claude Gueant, vowing never to surrender to what he called an "economic migration", said police had orders to strengthen border control and repel anyone without papers and money necessary to survive in France.
The dispute between Rome and Paris by the rules of return echoes in the three-story manufactured home used as a temporary center for immigrants. "What will happen to us," asks Boulbar Bouzaieme of 29 years, while not wanting to eat fish fries and a plastic plate provided by the International Red Cross (ICRC, for its acronym in English).
A Tunisian scribbled a question mark on a piece of paper. Many wonder what the prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, will tell his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, when they meet on April 26 in Rome to discuss the thorny issue. Italy signed an agreement with the Tunisian government to try to stem the flow of migrants and promised more than 200 million euros in aid and credit lines, and a greater police cooperation and the possible repatriation of people living in hiding.
Ventimiglia is home to only a small number of the 25,000 Tunisian immigrants who have arrived since January to Lampedusa, a tiny island about halfway between Sicily and Tunisia. But every night come by train more people with no return ticket from Rome, fueling concerns that the emergency worse.
Some have not eaten in four days, others have developed health problems, said the ICRC. Those too tired to try to cross the border agree to be taken to centers where they find temporary care, food and a bed. "The situation has improved somewhat, but we never know what might happen tonight," Massino said Nisi, a regional commissioner of the ICRC.
Italy has asked for help from its European partners to deal with the emergency, but has complained of the "total refusal to cooperate" by their neighbors. In Ventimiglia, patience is running out. Gaetano Scullino, the mayor's center, says he is waging a lonely battle against an emergency of unprecedented scale.
"It put us to mourn for our troubles, but Europe must assume its share of responsibility," the mayor told Reuters. 
Taxi drivers say that immigrants pay to carriers for contraband entering. Others prefer to risk their lives in 'The path of death', one of several mountain roads used by Italians to escape fascism during the Second World War. France, former colonial government of Tunisia has a strong attraction for many immigrants from North Africa, hoping to join relatives already living there.
Most speak French and see better opportunities to find employment. But Karim, 29, a carpenter with a common visa in Italy are at home to care for his younger brother, Europe is not the promised land for immigrants' dreams. "They come here thinking they will find a paradise, but will only head against the wall," he said in fluent Italian barracks in a former fire, used as temporary shelter for immigrants in the outskirts of Ventimiglia.
Italy is issuing temporary permits for those wishing to travel to other European countries, but France is refusing to accept them and the police show has been sending back immigrants who try to cross the border. French Interior Minister, Claude Gueant, vowing never to surrender to what he called an "economic migration", said police had orders to strengthen border control and repel anyone without papers and money necessary to survive in France.
The dispute between Rome and Paris by the rules of return echoes in the three-story manufactured home used as a temporary center for immigrants. "What will happen to us," asks Boulbar Bouzaieme of 29 years, while not wanting to eat fish fries and a plastic plate provided by the International Red Cross (ICRC, for its acronym in English).
A Tunisian scribbled a question mark on a piece of paper. Many wonder what the prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, will tell his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, when they meet on April 26 in Rome to discuss the thorny issue. Italy signed an agreement with the Tunisian government to try to stem the flow of migrants and promised more than 200 million euros in aid and credit lines, and a greater police cooperation and the possible repatriation of people living in hiding.
Ventimiglia is home to only a small number of the 25,000 Tunisian immigrants who have arrived since January to Lampedusa, a tiny island about halfway between Sicily and Tunisia. But every night come by train more people with no return ticket from Rome, fueling concerns that the emergency worse.
Some have not eaten in four days, others have developed health problems, said the ICRC. Those too tired to try to cross the border agree to be taken to centers where they find temporary care, food and a bed. "The situation has improved somewhat, but we never know what might happen tonight," Massino said Nisi, a regional commissioner of the ICRC.
Italy has asked for help from its European partners to deal with the emergency, but has complained of the "total refusal to cooperate" by their neighbors. In Ventimiglia, patience is running out. Gaetano Scullino, the mayor's center, says he is waging a lonely battle against an emergency of unprecedented scale.
"It put us to mourn for our troubles, but Europe must assume its share of responsibility," the mayor told Reuters.
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