Illegal immigrants

I congratulate Janet Mallia for her article on illegal immigrants (September 2).

Unluckily, many Maltese associate illegal immigration with crime and loss of jobs for the Maltese. These immigrants escape from horrible situations, such as war, poverty and political repression in their native countries, and are only in search of a decent life.

As a country whose citizens believe in solidarity, I would expect much more willingness to accept these immigrants in our society. We should all understand that a lot of people around the world suffer from these injustices, and we should show our solidarity in practice, by tolerating such people. Racism and xenophobia only show the low state of intelligence of those practising them.

What also disgusts me is the argument that such immigrants should be expelled, given that the cost of their staying in our country comes out of Maltese citizens' taxes. Is money all we can think of? Is it possible that a rational society puts the value of money above the value of solidarity?

As a person who believes in human rights, I would like to point out that the conditions that illegal immigrants live in, in detention centres, are, to say the least, horrible. An investigation on these detention centres in Malta should be conducted as soon as possible to ensure that Malta treats these persons in a decent way, just as any human being deserves.