It appears there is a general wrong impression about migrants arriving in Malta.

With reference to what Frank Portelli had to say during the political debate among the four Nationalist Party leadership contenders and also what Louis Cilia said in his Talking Point (August 26), I would like to make a point which, apparently, very few people are knowledgeable about.

The public is under the impression that Malta is not receiving any migrants because there is never any news about irregular immigrants, as was the case in the recent past. The truth is that, in line with the agreement reached with Italy, irregular migrants do not exist anymore.

Once the irregular migrants arrive on Italian soil they are given an Italian identity card and become regular migrants. They are therefore free to move within the Shengen area countries. In this connection, the irregular migrants who used to enter our shores via all sorts of boats are still arriving here but via the airport as regular migrants. The moment they reach Italy and find no jobs, they catch a flight to Malta and end up here as regular migrants.

In the past, we used to have African irregular migrants. Presently, we have an international race of regular migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Colombia etc.; you name it, we have them. To add insult to injury, the established regular migrants working in Malta send funds so other would leave Italy and join in the fun.

Therefore, whatever the outcome of the political situation in Italy, there cannot be a worst scenario than the present one.