European nation's pivot toward conservatism brings staggering drop in illegal immigration

Italy's conservative-led government has been hard at work to bring down illegal immigration over the past year, and they have a 64% drop in numbers to show for it.

"It's not easy. We've worked hard to achieve this goal," Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told "Sunday Morning Futures" host Maria Bartiromo.

"We are very happy for this. We are not against legal immigration, rather against illegal immigration," he clarified. 

"Human traffickers are the most important part of crime. They are human traffickers, weapon traffickers, drug traffickers. They [belong to] the same organization, but we need to be very strong and to fight against these organizations, and we are doing it."

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Tajani said the drop followed financial deals struck with Tunisia, Libya and other North African countries, a measure criticized by some and commended by others, including a member of the opposite side of the aisle, U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer.

Last year, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sat down with Bartiromo for a talk about the political climate in Europe, including the conservative movement's apparent growing influence that remains a part of political discourse.

There, she spoke urgently about the trafficking situation fueled by illegal immigration from Northern African nations.

"We have to fight the traffickers," she said at the time. "What the traffickers are doing is incredible. These organizations are always becoming more powerful, and they use their power and the money they [have] against the state. We cannot allow a mafia to decide who's coming into our countries."

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Meloni credited instability – the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War – for opening the eyes of many citizens and enabling them to see differences between right and left-wing policies.

Tajani commented on the apparent rightward shift and its effects, telling Bartiromo the Italian economy is better off now than it was under previous leadership.

"The economy now is going up in Italy. We are not very happy, but we are happy because less unemployment and the stock exchange is going up. We need to do more… in the next year, we need to do less taxes [lower taxes]. This is important. This is our strategy."

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Taylor Penley is an associate editor with Fox News.