Updated: Parliament to debate illegal immigration

The House of Representatives is to hold a debate on illegal immigration following a request by the Opposition.

At the opening of the sitting this evening, Opposition leader Joseph Muscat called for a suspension of the agenda of the House for an urgent debate on illegal immigration.

He said the request was being made in view of the arrival of 227 migrants in Malta today, raising to 604 the number of arrivals this month alone. The number of arrivals so far this year was almost a quarter of the total number of arrivals in the whole of last year.

It was only in July last year that arrivals, in a whole month, exceeded 227, Dr Muscat said. Arrivals were increasing dramatically, yet the government did not seem to be doing anything.

Dr Muscat said that in view of this crisis, which all the people were talking about, there should not be institutional silence and the House had a duty to debate this issue too.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi disagreed with the request to hold an immediate debate. He however acknowledged that the situation was worrying.

He said the repatriation of the recent arrivals had started and the number of repatriations was higher than a neighbouring country had done.

Dr Gonzi denied that there was any institutional silence over the subject (which Dr Muscat had called omerta') and said this was an international humanitarian tragedy which needed to be tackled in a way which respected human dignity. The migrants were innocent victims of circumstances which the Maltese had to acknowledge. It was Parliament's duty to make everyone understand that Malta, being a small country, expected solidarity in practice through assistance given as a human right.

Dr Gonzi disclosed that a few weeks ago, Home Affairs Minister Cram Mifsud Bonnici had invited Dr Muscat to a meeting and had given a full explanation of the extent of the problem, in the presence of army and police officers. The meeting was cordial and positive and he could not therefore understand how the Opposition had reached its conclusions. The real challenge was the challenge to the values of the Maltese.

The government, he said, had no difficulty with having a debate in the House.

The House then agreed to hold a debate in the coming days.

See also:

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090218/local/more-immigrants-landing-in-malta