National plan on migrants in the offing

The exasperation and boredom of detained immigrants hit journalists in the face yesterday when they were granted access to the detention centres for the first time ever.

The three-hour event at Safi and Hal Far was held on the eve of a visit by the European Parliament's Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee to Malta, though the authorities were quick to dismiss the proximity of the visits as "pure coincidence".

In what is clearly a catch-22 situation, the detention centres were described by immigrants as a hidden wall of destitution, as soldiers try to do their utmost to pacify the situation with limited resources.

Practically all immigrants who spoke to journalists mentioned the long months of waiting inside the centres with nothing to do as they insisted on immediate freedom. An army officer told The Times: "It's not an easy task. Besides facing great psychological pressure, we are often insulted and are exposed to diseases".

In a presentation, Lt Col Brian Gatt, who is in charge of the detention centres, said there were no fewer than 1,017 irregular immigrants in four closed centres at present - and with the changing weather he expected the problem to become even more acute.

The government's adviser on immigration, Martin Scicluna, revealed that a National Plan for Irregular Immigrants, Refugees and Integration would be published shortly, though little major changes to the current policy are expected to take place.

"The policy of detention and the mix of closed and open accommodation centres we have in place is the right one. We believe it would be impolitic and impractical to alter the current detention arrangements," he said.