By Frances Kennedy BBC Correspondent in Rome

Italy's long, accessible coasts have made it a magnet for immigrant smugglers for more than a decade now.

But the latest uninvited guests to arrive on its southern coasts seem to have caught the government off guard.

Their presence has revealed deep political divisions on immigration as a humanitarian and a security problem.

Some 928 migrants - mainly Iraqi Kurds - arrived in the Sicilian port of Catania on Sunday, crammed into a rusting hulk of a ship.

Hardline minister Umberto Bossi said the refugees should be sent home

There was nowhere to house them on the island, where all accommodation centres are full of others who have arrived in recent weeks - including several hundred Tamils from Sri Lanka.

The Kurds were ferried to the mainland and sent by bus to Bari, in Puglia.

They are being housed in caravans and prefabricated huts in a camp used for refugees during the Balkans War, while they are identified and their asylum requests processed.

Hardline party

The Northern League, which has made the fight against illegal immigration a party cause, has attacked the centre-right coalition for "handling immigration badly".

In an interview, party leader Umberto Bossi - who is also a cabinet minister - said the government was not tackling the issue of what he called "the hordes".

The Monica was Italy's largest boatload of refugees in years

He said there must be a super commissioner with special powers, to avoid energy being dispersed between the interior, defence and foreign affairs ministries.

Other members of his party suggested they would pull out of the coalition unless it adopted a tougher line.

The criticism was dismissed as absurd, unfair and unacceptable by other members of the government, who underlined that when people, including women and children, were there they could not simply be turned back.

Political analysts suggest the League fears being swallowed up in the coalition and is pushing for a crackdown on immigration to preserve its identity.

President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who rarely intervenes directly in the political debate, gave a thinly veiled rebuke to Mr Bossi.

Speaking to an audience of administrators in the Veneto region, a heartland of the League, he said in emergencies "the humanitarian element cannot but prevail".

New powers

Yet the row reveals the frustration of the entire coalition - which made immigration a key campaign issue - that while it has tabled a new, much tougher immigration law, it cannot stop the flood of desperate people seeking a better life.

More than 6,000 illegal immigrants have entered Italy by sea since the start of the year.

The Monica was Italy's largest boatload of refugees in years

Intelligence reports also suggest that with warmer weather coming, the flow will increase - perhaps dramatically.

The Italian cabinet was set to decide on Wednesday on a state of emergency to tackle the immigration crisis.

This would give wider powers to the central government delegates in the provinces who would be able to requisition properties for use as accommodation centres.

It would also free up funds to build new centres and allow the traffickers' vessels to be destroyed as soon as they are confiscated.

There are two types of provisions - welcome centres for those who have had their initial requests for political asylum accepted, and temporary stay centres for those who are awaiting repatriation.

Last year 75,000 illegal entrants were sent back.

International problem

A new immigration law sponsored by Mr Bossi and deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini has been approved in the Senate and is awaiting a vote in the lower chamber of parliament.

The Kurds have been housed in caravans

It grants foreigners a permit to stay only for the duration of their employment contracts.

It does not allow them to enter looking for a job, it makes family reunions more difficult and deportations easier.

Umberto Bossi also said it was the duty of the European Union to cover repatriation costs and that it must pay for "defending its external Mediterranean border".

Most political forces here agree that immigration is an international problem and that a unified European policy, and joint funding is needed.

Many of those who enter Italy have no intention of remaining and move on to countries further north.