The Italian government has agreed new measures in response to a surge in irregular migration across the Mediterranean from Africa.
The maximum time migrants can be detained before repatriation is being extended to 18 months.
More detention centres will be built in remote parts of Italy to house them.
Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Georgia Meloni said on Sunday that people who relied on traffickers to break Italian law should know that they would be detained and repatriated.
Ms Meloni was elected on a promise to stop irregular migration – but almost 130,000 people have landed so far this year, nearly double the total for 2022.