Minister defends detention of illegal immigrants

Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg has insisted in parliament that Malta had no choice but to detain and seek the repatriation of illegal immigrants who are not recognised as refugees.

He said in an adjournment speech that while Malta would respect those who had a right for protection - such as refugees and those who were deserving of humanitarian help because of the circumstances in their countries - one could not tolerate a situation where other immigrants remained in Malta.

In view of Malta's small size and population density, one had, unfortunately, to be tough with immigrants who lost their case for refugee status.

The police commissioner had been criticised for saying that detention served as a deterrent. But there was nothing wrong in what he had said. A law enacted in 1970 laid down that all those who entered Malta illegally shall be detained until removed.

The situation was such that 1,680 illegal immigrants came to Malta last year - equivalent to half the number of births in Malta.

In contrast, this year only just over 400 had arrived so far.

Perhaps the message was getting through that Malta was a small country which could not accept a certain influx of illegal immigrants, Dr Borg said.

He referred to the recent repatriation of 148 immigrants from Italy and thanked the Egyptian embassy for having, within a week, arranged the onward repatriation of 136 members of that group to Egypt. A further 11 would be repatriated to Morocco within a few days, leaving just one migrant here. His case was being examined.

Dr Borg said Malta was continuing to negotiate repatriation agreements with neighbouring countries, but the process was difficult because most countries only agreed to take back their own nationals, rather than all illegal immigrants who would have left from their shores.

It was also hoped that procedures would be speeded up so that illegal immigrants would not be kept in detention for too long.