The case involving five Ethiopians who were arrested and sent to a detention centre, despite having been living in Malta for years and making a life for themselves here, is most concerning.

One, of course, understands the importance of protecting the country's borders and the distinction between an economic migrant and a refugee, the latter of whom must, absolutely, be protected, and the former must be returned to their country of origin when found on arrival. But what happened in the case of these five migrants beggars belief.

The issue was brought to the fore by the Times of Malta, in an article which highlighted that the Ethiopian community in Malta is living in fear as a number of people "who have been living and working legally in Malta for up to 19 years, are being arrested at their place of work, sent to detention and told they will be sent back to Ethiopia."

The Times of Malta quotes the Home Affairs Ministry as saying that the Ethiopian nationals you are referring to have been detained in order to safeguard their return to Ethiopia, "following positive signals from the Ethiopian authorities related to cooperation on the safe readmission of their own nationals."-

The news saw many organisations speak out. In fact, a group of 39 organisations have called on the government to immediately release Ethiopian nationals who were recently arrested and detained. "These recent immigration raids targeting people with rejected asylum applications have sent shockwaves throughout the broader refugee community. While some of those directly affected had arrived in Malta relatively recently, many had spent several years here, some up to 20 years. For most of this time they worked legally, paying taxes and social security contributions," they said. "These unnecessary and cruel actions have a devastating impact not only on the people arrested, but on whole communities."

"Five men are currently detained at the Safi Detention Centre following government raids on Malta's well-established Ethiopian community. For the better part of two decades these men have built their lives here, working legally, paying social security and taxes, filling labour gaps and contributing to the growth of our economy," Moviment Graffitti said following a protest it organised, saying that these men developed a network of friends, family, and colleagues and are a valuable part of our social fabric.

Now whatever reason the government has for deciding to send Ethiopians who were living and working in Malta, reportedly legally for so many years up until this point back, it just doesn't sit well.

It isn't right for someone who was allowed to live in the country for 10 or more years, built their lives here, to be uprooted in this way. It doesn't make sense. Just imagine having lived and worked in a country for so long only to suddenly one day be told you're being kicked out. Your roots would be in that country. Your employment, your friends, everything you would have built... gone. Its traumatic. They are human beings.

Again, there is of course an important distinction to be made between an irregular economic migrant and refugee when it comes to who a government allows to remain in a country upon arrival, but if a person is allowed to build a life here for so many years, a different set of regulations should be introduced to cover that. There should be a line drawn, in terms of the number of years one would have been living and working in the country.

Linked to this situation, the Office of the Commissioner for Children also issued a statement, although more general. "The Office urges the Government and all relevant authorities to proceed with caution and reiterates its position that migrants who have settled in Malta and integrated in Maltese society should be given a more definite and permanent status enabling children to access their rights as enshrined in the UN Convention on the rights of the child, including their right to education amongst many others."

The government cannot be lax on irregular migration, of course not, but it should not be heartless. There needs to be an element of leniency, giving recognition to length of residence in the country and family ties.