The Today Public Policy Institute has urged the government to give more importance to the integration of irregular migrants, while also continuing to work on repatriation and on seeking agreements with countries from where the migrants arrive.

In a document due to be presented to the Prime Minister this evening, the institute says that if there was one lesson which should be learnt from the experiences of other countries, this was that neglecting the integration of immigrants into society would, in the long run, come at a severe cost to the host country, including the creation of ghettoes and social exclusion.

“It would be a serious mistake to assume that the presence of migrants will be a temporary phenomenon,” report authors Stephen Calleya and Derek Lutterbeck say.

Their proposals include the drafting of a long term plan on integration which would include employment, education, housing, social security and medical benefits, among other matters.

That should be accompanied by a sustained two-pronged educational campaign promoting integration. This campaign would include preparing migrants in detention centres to live in Maltese society. At the same time, there should be a campaign to create positive perceptions on migration and counter racist and xenophobic tendencies.

The report writers also recommend that the government consider reducing or withdrawing financial allowances to the migrants after a certain period of time, to also encourage them to integrate. It cautions, however, that this aspect needs to be studied more to ensure it does not create problems in other areas.

In other sections of the report, the think tank calls for the building of a new 1,000 bed open centre to ease overcrowding in the other centres. The new centre should be sited away from the other centres to also facilitate integration.

It says there is need for more coordination between ministries and departments and suggests that fishermen who have to stop their work in order to rescue migrants should be compensated.

It says Malta should continue to lobby for a strengthened Frontex; burden sharing with EU countries; a permanent programme for voluntary assisted return and the promotion in the EU of an effective development aid policy addressing the root causes of migration.