Video: 77 migrants rescued by merchant ship

@F. Camilleri: First you didn't to apologize. This should not be politiced at all. We Maltese has been divided by party lines from the beginning. This is a big tool that both our parties have against the citizens. If never, this is th time where both MLP , PN and all other parties supporters should join together and rally together peacefuly. Our only resource is at limbo(Tourism) Our culture is at stakes and mostly our small Island can't withstand a sudden boom in population. This is definetly not a hate issue. As far as the church it has spoken in favor of illegal immigration, it has called us unchristians and so on. We must make them aware that this is a grave situation for the very small Island of Malta. Holding back funds from the church, will not kill our church, but it will open up their eyes. As their only resource is us, the Maltese citizens.

@Denis Catania
Denis please note that the final part of my comment (in UPPER CASE) is not intended to you but to some of the comments which tend to politicise the issue.

Denis please accept my sincere apologies.
F. Camilleri


The final part of my comment should have been addressed as follows:
@ some of the comments:

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS OUR NATIONAL ISSUE.
LET US NOT POLITICISE IT.
THIS WEAKENS OUR POSITION BOTH ON NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVELS.

PLEASE REALISE THAT THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS COMES FAR ABOVE ANY POLITICAL PARTY.

As the EU is definitely not taking this invasion of illegal immigrants seriously and Frontex seems to be nothing more then a gimmick, then Malta should take matters in its own hands. Give these immigrants a passport and thus EU citizenship on arrival in exchange for the promise that they will leave our shores and escort them to the next ferry out of Malta. Then let the EU deal with the problem..

@Denis Catania
THANK YOU for what you propose to do all the way from the UNITED STATES.
Few would even think to propose such action.

Our political parties MUST be encouraged to PRESENT A COMMON NATIONAL FRONT re this issue.
Once this is openly achieved, the vast majority of the Maltese citizens will back them up against any power trying to weaken or destroy our sovereignty.

I DO NOT agree with your proposed action against the Church.
The Church has nothing to do with ILLEGAL immigration.
Moreover, this would bring about a division amongst the Maltese population.

It is the Parliament's role (Government and Opposition) to safeguard our country’s secular affairs.
BOTH SIDES OF THE House have IMPORTANT ROLES TO PLAY in the RUNNING OF OUR COUNTRY.

The GREATER RESPONSIBILITY slants heavily on the Government and its EP's.
This DOES NOT ABSOLVE the Opposition's silence and lack of support re this issue on both local and EP levels.

Thanks for your support Dennis.



ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS OUR NATIONAL ISSUE.
LET US NOT POLITICISE IT.
THIS WEAKENS OUR POSITION BOTH ON NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVELS.

PLEASE REALISE THAT THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS COMES FAR ABOVE ANY POLITICAL PARTY.

Oh! Welcome to the merchant ship phase!! Don't worry we still have another stage to go... Tankers' phase!

@ Marcel Dingli

And what happened to the other 1990 or the other 2990? Are they being house and fed, given pocket money and cell phones plus all the free medical treatment they may need?

@ M. Gatt
A crime has no nationality, race or religion.
Have you been following the past 2, 3 weeks papers (at least the Times of Malta) ? Did you read last night’s editorial? If not yet, please do.

Malta has been invaded many times in the past. The only difference this time is that your own Government is bringing the invaders in and you are paying for them.

Latest TVM News : Only 10 were granted refugee status out of the 2 or 3 thousand landed this yaer.

@Joe Vella: Leave Mintoff alone, I'm not going to agree or disagree. The problem we have is now. We have to deal with Gonzi for now. We can't wait 4 1/2 years, to solve this problem. What is the Maltese waiting for. You MUST take this to the streets peacefully. Come on JOSEPH MUSCAT speak up. If not for you and me, for our future generations. Or are you too, in favor of these undocumented people taking over our country. Maltese smell the coffee. To all Maltese in the US, if you can help me organize this peaceful demonstration in front of the Malta mission and his(prime Ministers) place of residence in New York on or around Sept 23rd (Gonzi should be here at the General Assembly meeting) E-mail me deniscatania@yahoo.com. Malta needs you. Malta wants you to help. One day of work won't kill you. HELP PLEASE HELP

The last strong prime minister Malta had was Dom Mintoff. Dont expect this government t to act.

Ssshhh! Fresh news from The Times:

"Mumin Trabulé, a 21-year-old man from Ivory Coast, currently residing at Ħal Fal Tent City has pleaded not guilty to attempting to rape two women and raping a third between March and this month.

Police inspector Carlo Ellul said Mr Trabulé was an illegal immigrant who arrived in Malta two years ago without any identification and did not have a permanent address.

The charges against him were serious so granting him bail would not be suitable.

Defense lawyer Mark Busuttil said that Mr Trabulé should not be denied bail just because he was a foreigner.

However, Inspector Ellul argued that the accused had admitted, in a police statement, to the attempted rape of one of the women.

Mr Trabulé was remanded in custody."

What i want to know, do these arrivals add to the tourists figures ?.

Take it to the streets peacefully. I'm organizing a demostration at the UN and the Malta mission in New York. If you want to wake the church up un this situation. What you need to do is hand letters out on sundays asking the people not to donate any money to the Church. This will hurt their pockets.Explain in the letter why, also asking them, to keep going to church, let them use their electricity without giving them any funds. As far as the politician they need to get sued by victims of undocumented illegals, such as the rape victims.

@ Joseph Cauchi
Boycotting MEP `s elections wont help. Voting for anti immigration candidates and parties will.

A lot has been written, a lot is still being written and a lot more will be written!!!

This situation is reaching alarming proportions and our political and religious representatives remain dumb-struck!

There is no way that our politicians and religious leaders will open their mouths in this matter, because, frankly speaking, they do not give a HOOT for what we say!

Their only concern is their own political ambition and political survival!!!

However, there is ONE language that they understand and that is OUR VOTE!!!

Come June, 2009, there will be the MEPs election and our response should be a TOTAL BOYCOTT.

We should all refrain from voting for those candidates who are complacent.

I am sure if we all mobilise our resources and efforts to promote this TOTAL BOYCOTT in June, 2009; then perhaps there is a slight chance that someone might raise his voice in our favour and realise the predicament our islands are in.

Let's hope for the best and promote NOW this TOTAL BOYCOTT.

VIVA MALTA
MALTA TAL-MALTIN.

Mr Borg...if the EU were to do precisely what you say they should do, ie divide equally their illegal immigrants, you'd better keep the door to your house wide open since Malta would have to house another 400/500000 as its share

I am sure that people of these Islands live in some cuckoo land and think that only they have problems, if you call these people a problem,which i don't. About time all you so called well meaning Christians put your money where your mouth is. Charity isn't just about giving a few cents to some mission or other in a far off land.

@ apgrech.
How can one organise a general strike when the GWU is silent in the face of this phenomenon? Why is the GWU silent when all and sundry know that illegal immigrants are being used in many industries, especially the construction industry to the detriment of Maltese workers.You had your chance in March to vote and the Maltese people voted accordingly.One reaps what one sows.

yep General Strike would be great ...i would even go on hunger stike....
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!!

Poor refugees... All clean-shaven, some wearing denim jackets and other fashionable items.

And we're the fools that are paying for their accommodation, food and spending money.

Strike, maybe not. But what about a national poll, for or against, the illegals ?.

Perhaps it's time to organize a general strike as a sign of protest since our government and the EU are not doing anything to stop them.

These people are being let off from a mother ship. This is what the AFM should keep an eye for and not the dinghies. Our government is cooperating with the human traders in full who are laughing their way to the bank.

FRONTEX?! I´d be laughing out loud, were it not for the flop that is Frontex. Since Frontex started, the number of illegals coming here has shot up.

Maybe, that is why the big increase in surcharges, to pay for the extra services the guests will require. also to supply the extra fuel that the boat's, planes, helicopter's, ambulances and police car's,use in the shuttle service.

The government should raffle off these illegals between all the countries of the EU. There has been too much in-fighting between the 27 countries in their haste to take them away to their rich economies! Unfortunately that´s just my wishful thinking, and our MPs are simply burrying their head in the sand.

So much for the so much harped about EU "solidariety" (whatever it was supposed to mean) before we joined the EU. Now, we are left alone to deal with these illegals alone, out in the cold.

Just another 100 or so that our tiny economy has to support, on top of the 6000 or so unemployed.

Brace yourself to pay and accommodate another thousand until the end of the year, at this rate Malta is rapidly becoming another African country. How long do you think it will be before we start reaping the negative effects of such a massive influx??

We have to take our protest to the streets if we really want to show our anger and disappointment towards the passive stance taken by our Goverment re this issue. NOTHING is worth more than our country's National interest, if the EU will continue to ignore our plight than we should seriously consider opting out of the EU.

let them come, welcome to do them. the first sin was committed by the man who put a fence around the place he lived. the world belongs to no one and everyone.

How many days have these been at sea? Cos it seems they're in a pretty fine state when considering that they should have been in the sun and without any sleep (I cant' imagine them sleeping on that dinghy) "for days"!!

Have you any doubt that these were hiding in a ship? What ships have passed in those vicinities during the past two days?! Do we have a tracking system to check this? These are the type of questions our AFM should be asking!!

These do not look like desperate refugees - clean shaven, well dressed.
Basically these poor people turn up on boats and are placed in a detention centre for a maximum of 18 months whilst their status is sorted. In that 18 months they are either refugees entitled to all the help they can be given. The remainder have their roots of origin either identified and they are returned to their own country or are placed in an “Open Centre” at the end of the 18 months.
As those in an “Open Centre” have no identity and or have given false/unverifiable information they have no status and therefore should be confined to the “Open Centre” until such information is forthcoming. They have no entitlement to anything but life support. They should NOT be allowed free access to roam the Country.
When it is realised that they cannot and will not get any further perhaps they will give the information required to be able to repatriate them and others will be discouraged for coming.
They are breaking the law both international and local by entering without identity and thus can be legally restrained.

53 miles south of Malta!!!!....and our responsibility??? Dr.Gonzi what happens if you find oil 50 miles south of Malta??? Will you donate it to the Jesuits? Or give it up to the Libyans?

And what will the Puma helicopters be doing exactly?
"Migration Patrols", in other words , ferry service.