US Ambassador donates warm clothing to open-centre residents

Over 100 new blankets, 50 coats and other winter clothes have been donated by US Ambassador Douglas Kmiec to immigrants living at the Ħal Far open centre.

The ambassador was accompanied by his wife Carolyn and representatives and parents of students attending the Verdala and QSI International schools, which supported the initiative.

Most of the migrants who eventually move to America under the US Embassy's refugee resettlement programme spend time in open centres before their resettlement.

Mr Kmiec said: "The educational and integration programmes run in the open centres are an essential component to helping irregular migrants, many of whom have risked life and limb to escape war and injustice in their homelands, to make a new start, whether they stay in Malta or are eventually resettled elsewhere in Europe or in the United States."

Since May 2008, over 360 refugees have been resettled in the US.