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In the latest shot across the bow by Italy in Europe's latest refugee crisis, BBC and AP report that the Italian Coast Guard has impounded a German NGO migrant rescue boat and is questioning its crew on the isle of Lampedusa, amid a growing dispute over Italy's code of conduct for handling migrants at sea. Lampedusa is a tiny Italian island near North Africa which has struggled to house boatloads of migrants in recent years.
The Iuventa, which is operated by the German NGO Jugend Rettet previously discussed in "NGO Fleet Bussing Migrants Into The EU Has Ties To George Soros, Hillary Clinton Donors", called the Italian check "a standard procedure".
The reason for the escalation is that Jugend Rettet, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and various other aid NGOs have rejected a new Italian "code of conduct" when it comes to dealing with refugees, according to which Italy plans to send warships close to the Libyan coast to pick up migrants, bypassing Europe's NGO fleet altogether. According to BBC, the Italian parliament is debating the plan, which has already been agreed upon by the government, and aims to stopping the flow of unstable, overcrowded migrant boats across the Mediterranean to Italy.