Sharp drop in number of illegal immigrants

Malta last year received 33 per cent fewer illegal immigrants than in 2005, according to EU figures on the number of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants entering the EU.

The data were published yesterday by Eurodac, an EU-wide biometric tool which helps determine which EU member state is responsible for examining an asylum claim.

The data also show a drop in the number of illegal immigrants who claimed asylum status as soon as they reached Malta.

Last year, Malta received 1,024 illegal migrants. More than half of these, 606, applied for refugee status while the rest were considered illegal migrants. By contrast, the figures for 2005 show that Malta received 1,519 illegal immigrants and 1,296 applied for refugee status.

The same drop is also observed when comparing the number of persons apprehended while residing illegally in Malta.

Last year, Malta registered 327 such cases, 169 less than in 2005 when the number of people caught residing illegally amounted to 496.

Despite this decline Malta is still one of the EU member states that receives a lot of illegal immigrants considering the size and the population density of the island.

The Eurodac system enables member states to identify asylum applicants and persons who have been apprehended while unlawfully crossing an external frontier of the EU.

By comparing fingerprints, member states can determine whether an asylum applicant or a foreign national found illegally within a member state has previously claimed asylum in another member state or whether an asylum applicant entered the Union unlawfully.

According to the data sent by Malta last year, the system found that 149 persons who applied for a refugee status had already done so in another EU member state.

The biggest number, 49 had applied in the UK. Two applicants had already submitted a previous application in Malta.