Petition to stop illegal migration launched

A petition to push MPs to take concrete action to stop illegal migration has been launched by Azzjoni Nazzjonali and the Campaign for National Independence.

AN leader Josie Muscat told a meeting organised by CNI that the time had come for concrete action to address the situation.

“If we are not tough, the day will come when the country will contain two very different and culturally conflicting populations,” Dr Muscat said.

He described the EU’s immigration pact which the government signed recently as a “missed golden opportunity” and said he was prepared to back any initiative that would address the problem effectively.

Dr Muscat urged the government to regulate the employment of illegal immigrants, safeguarding the immigrants from abusive, inhuman and illegal working conditions and ensuring they were paid the legal minimum wage and that taxes were applied to that income.

CNI chairman Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici said that all had been done so far to supposedly curb illegal immigration, such as the Frontex initiatives and the immigration burden-sharing pact, had only served to encourage illegal immigration.

Malta needed to stop accepting illegal immigrants which it did not need and which would only be a burden to the country. He stressed that he was not referring just to north-Africans.

CNI, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said, was not suggesting that Malta turned its back on those who needed help. He urged the population to recognise its duty to help those in need with every means possible.

However, he said, this was not achieved by integrating immigrants into Malta, but by providing assistance to the countries they were fleeing.