Finally a meeting about illegal immigration in parliament, about time. Watching Bondi Plus on 2 March showed how important this discussion in parliament would be. Except for the politicians rudely interrupting each other, it was a very interesting discussion.

There are a lot of pros and cons to be discussed by each side and each question deserves to be answered honestly by all those involved. The illegal immigration problem, directly or indirectly, affects every Maltese citizen and they are entitled to a detailed explanation on how? where? when? why? these things are happening. An editorial by John Paul Cordina on di-ve online showed these statistics.

In total, just over e28 million were spent by the police and the AFM between 2003 and 2008.

Who is paying for all of this? Is Malta being reimbursed by the EU, UNCHR, NGOs or any other group for all these expenses being incurred because of illegal immigration?

This is only the tip of expenses, what about shelter, medical, food, clothing, etc which runs in the millions of euros. How much is it costing each Maltese citizen? Yes we should feel sorry for these illegal immigrants, but what is going to happen when another 10 or 12 boats arrive by the end of the year. According to Libya, the boat they saved had 300 people on it, that’s the largest group yet. There are a lot of questions with very few answers.

Once again Malta cannot sustain the exodus of illegal immigrants. I hope parliament invites every mayor whose town is affected by the detention camps to testify at these hearings. I was very impressed by what some of these mayors had to say on Bondi Plus. At this stage, I do believe that the Maltese citizens are more confused about the situation because of lack of information. What happened in the USA,UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and other European cities can happen in Malta, once it gets out of hand you cannot stop it!

Joseph Calleja

Manteca, California

USA