Let the former colonialists carry the burden

The continuous arrival of an alarming number of illegal immigrants, mostly youngsters seeking a better life in Europe, is affecting our small island enormously. Most of them now are not asylum-seekers applying for refugee status, but young men and women seeking a better life.

The problem is that they are imposing themselves on our limited resources and space, considering we have one of the highest population densities in the world.

With regard to Frontex, can anyone enlighten us on how much these patrols are costing taxpayers, and how many boats, if any, they persuaded to turn back?

The biggest problem caused by illegal immigrants who invaded other European countries has not materialised here yet, even though accommodation is already a problem; but when it comes to housing it is much worse. It is obvious that it is impossible for most of them to buy their own homes. Worse, they cannot do in Malta what their counterparts did in France, Italy and other countries - occupying abandoned residences. So where are they going to live, considering the high rent?

Today's tragedy is the result of hundreds of years of suppression and exploitation of African countries by European powers of the past, such as Britain, Italy, France, etc, when colonising them and exploiting their human and natural resources, which enabled them to flourish and develop a high standard of living.

Therefore it is the moral duty of these countries to either accept these illegal immigrants in their own countries, just as some of their nationals did in the past by settling in occupied countries, or help their ex-subjects improve their standard of living.