LECCE, Italy -- Authorities detained 78 illegal immigrants overnight on the beaches of southern Italy, officials said Monday, cited by AFP.

The detainees were taken to an emergency center in Otrante. Authorities did not specify the nationalities of those detained.

Italy's Lower House of Parliament voted Wednesday to strengthen a 1998 law on immigration, calling for tough prison sentences for immigrants who try to reenter the country after once being expelled.

The beefed-up law, which must be ratified by the Senate, also would allow for the fingerprinting of immigrants who have no formal identity papers, and the storing of that information in a database.

But the text omitted a provision that would have allowed security forces to fire on suspected smugglers.

Italy is believed to be home to some 1.5 million illegal immigrants.

Many others travel through the country en route for other European Union states.