Committee set up to deal with sharp rise in illegal immigrants

The government has set up a committee to deal with the sharp rise in the number of illegal immigrants, the Home Affairs Ministry said yesterday.

There are no fewer than 514 illegal immigrants being held on the island at present.

Although the situation was under control, resources have nearly been stretched to the limit, the ministry said.

Another 49 illegal immigrants, Iraqis and Egyptians, were rounded up in Mellieha on Monday afternoon, after they allegedly left Turkey four days earlier.

Yesterday, the men, aged between 18 and 40, were being interrogated at police headquarters and were also taken to Boffa hospital for medical tests. Sources said the immigrants were in a good state of health, even though they had been out at sea for four days.

The problem of dealing with the increasing numbers in detention was exacerbated on July 25 when about 250 illegal immigrants were rescued by the Armed Forces from a sinking boat. They had left Libya for Italy on a 20-metre boat but encountered problems in rough seas 44 miles south of Malta.

Furthermore, many of the 208 illegal immigrants who drifted into Xlendi Bay last March are still in Malta.

The illegal immigrants are being held at Ta' Kandja, the AFM premises in Kirkop, and the Hal Far reception centre which was inaugurated just last February. The Hal Far building caters for about 90 illegal immigrants and 36 refugees.

The spokesman said the committee is made up of the civil protection department, the immigration police, and the Armed Forces.

The committee, which will be chaired by a representative of the home affairs ministry, will be meeting on a regular basis to facilitate the work of the NGOs as well as to make it more effective.

The home affairs ministry said it was concerned about the problem though it believes that the situation is not alarming.

The fact that Malta had a Refugee Commissioner had speeded up the processing of applications for refugees, the ministry said.

But while illegal immigrants from countries like Egypt were easily repatriated, other countries were proving a hard nut to crack - and it was very difficult to send certain illegal immigrants back.

One of the major problems, the ministry said, was that illegal immigrants often threw away their passports at sea or before embarking on the boat. This made their repatriation more difficult.

The government was also considering the possibility of signing a bilateral agreement with some North African countries which would facilitate the repatriation of illegal immigrants to Libya, for example, should their boat have departed from there.

The Maltese and Italian governments signed a similar agreement last December.