Those migrants who have had their asylum applications rejected need to leave Malta and go back to their country of origin, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri insisted on Monday.

Asked to react to calls made by migrants and asylum seekers during a protest earlier in the day, Camilleri said Malta’s policy on irregular migration was clear: it was about caring for those who have a right to asylum and protection, but being firm with those who have their application rejected and who are abusing the system.

“Some of the migrants were calling for stability...there are those who have the right to asylum but others who do not. Our policy on migration is firm but fair…Some of those who were protesting today had their request rejected so they need to go back to their country of origin," the minister said. 

"They can either be deported, like the record number in 2021, or else they can opt for voluntary schemes which we organise through the International Migration Office, which also gives the migrants financial incentives to go back to their country of origin,” he said.

As for those who had been granted residence authorisation, Camilleri said this was a one-off authorisation that had a cut-off time.

On Monday morning, migrants and their lobby groups gathered in Valletta to protest policies that they say strip them and their children of basic rights, pushing them to exploitation. The demonstration took place one week after an injured migrant was abandoned on the roadside after falling two storeys in a construction site.

The protesters held placards reading: 'stability not uncertainty', 'the rights of our children should be protected', and 'we are humans not cheap labour'.