Local refugees not affected by suspension of US resettlement programme

The suspension of a programme aimed at reuniting African refugees with relatives in the US will not affect the ongoing resettlement of refugees living in Malta to cities in America.

This is because the latter have already been granted refugee status, a spokesman for the American Embassy told The Times yesterday.

The P-3 programme allows Africans to join close family members who are already living in the US. It was suspended because of fraud, after DNA tests showed that only around 20 per cent of those trying to enter the US have a blood relationship with family members they claimed they have.

"The refugees who are being resettled from Malta qualify for resettlement because they have been granted refugee status, whereas participants in the P-3 programme travel to the US on the basis of their family ties to persons living in the US.

"To date, none of the refugees who have been resettled from Malta have gone as part of the P-3 programme," a spokesman for the embassy said.

Around 150 refugees have been resettled from Malta to the US since the programme started last year.