Repubblika held a vigil in front of the US embassy in Ta' Qali on Tuesday evening, after two people were killed by the US immigration authorities.
Speaking during the vigil, Vicki Ann Cremona, President of Repubblika, said that they were gathered not because they hate America, "but because we love what America once meant. We are here because something precious is in danger. Something larger than any single government, any single election, any single political leader."
"We are here because the idea of America, the idea that power must answer to law, that the strong must protect the weak, that freedom is not a privilege but a right, is being wounded in plain sight. And the whole world is watching."
She spoke of the situation in the USA regarding ICE agent actions.
"Today, in the United States, people are being rounded up, detained, and deported with a level of cruelty that would once have been unthinkable in a liberal democracy.People are dying in custody. Families are being torn apart. Children are being treated not as children, but as problems to be managed. Not as human beings, but as statistics."
"Tonight we remember Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Two names that should never have become symbols. Two lives lost in circumstances that demand answers, accountability, and truth," she said. "They are not collateral damage. They are not footnotes. They are reminders that when the rule of law is weakened, real people pay the price. And what makes this moment so dangerous is not only what is being done, but what is being normalised."
"Cruelty is being presented as policy. Law is being replaced by force. Human dignity is being treated as an inconvenience. And when this happens in the most powerful democracy on earth, it does not stay there. Because the United States does not just exercise power. It sets standards."
She said that the world looks to America and asks: "What is permitted now? What is acceptable now? What can we get away with now? And today, authoritarian governments everywhere are watching closely. They are learning lessons. They are taking notes. They are seeing how far they can go. They are discovering that if America can detain children, if America can disregard courts, if America can redefine cruelty as security, then so can they, and without fearing consequences from anyone."
"This is how standards collapse. This is how the rule of law erodes. This is how tyranny becomes ordinary."
Europe, she said, has seen this happen before. "We know where it leads when institutions are hollowed out. When minorities are scapegoated. When fear becomes a governing strategy. When power is no longer restrained by principle. We know that authoritarianism does not arrive all at once. It arrives one exception at a time."
She said that the protestors present are not here "to insult a nation. But to raise a moral alarm. To say: this matters. This affects all of us. This is not an internal American problem. This is a global democratic emergency. Because when the strongest democracy neglects its own values, the entire democratic world becomes weaker."
She said that Malta's Prime Minister referred to the vigil in Parliament. "He spoke about national interest. About diplomacy. About how Malta should position itself in a changing world. Let us be very clear about this. The national interest of Malta is not served by silence in the face of injustice. It is not served by courting power which discards principles. It is not served by ignoring acts and actions that undermine the rule of law."
"The national interest of Malta is served by insisting on law, not force. By defending human dignity, not excusing cruelty. By finding and keeping friends in the world who respect countries' right to exist and people's right to live in freedom."
"History teaches us that small countries survive not by flattering the powerful, but by standing with the just. That is how you build alliances that last. That is how you build credibility. That is how you protect your future."
She said that those at the vigil were not without hope. "We are not here to bury the American ideal. We are here to defend it. Because America is not just a government. It is an idea. An idea that survived slavery. An idea that survived segregation. An idea that survived McCarthyism, Watergate, and Vietnam. An idea that inspired millions of people across the world, including here in Europe, to believe that freedom was possible. It was the American idea that crossed the Atlantic in 1944. It was the American idea that helped defeat fascism. It was the American idea that rebuilt Europe. Not the idea of walls, but the idea of rights. Not the idea of exclusion, but the idea of dignity."
"And that idea does not belong to any president. It does not belong to any party. It does not belong to any administration. It belongs to the people. To the people who protest. To the people who defend migrants in court. To the journalists who tell the truth. To the lawyers who defend constitutional rights. To the communities that refuse to accept cruelty as normal. We stand in solidarity with them tonight. With the Americans who are saying: Not in our name. Not with our silence. Not with our consent."
"We believe that borders do not erase humanity. That citizenship does not determine dignity. That children do not become less human when they cross a line on a map. We stand for the American dream, not the caricature of it, but the real one. The dream of people who leave everything behind to seek freedom. The dream of families who risk everything for dignity. The dream of a society where law protects the weak from the strong."
She said that those at the vigil are sending a message, "not of hatred, but of hope. A message to Americans: You are not alone. A message to tyrants everywhere: We are watching. And a message to history itself: We remember. We resist. And we will not surrender the future without a fight."