The director of the EU border agency, who last year caused a furore after claiming that the organisation's anti-immigrant patrols in the Mediterranean failed, is in Malta for an unpublicised two-day visit.

Ilka Latenen arrived yesterday and is meeting various stakeholders to discuss the issue of illegal immigration but will not be meeting the press, according to a Home Affairs Ministry spokesman. The visit was not announced through the normal official channels.

"We are using this visit to put forward our argument that Frontex has an important role to play in the repatriation of illegal immigrants apart from patrolling the Mediterranean Sea," the spokesman said when asked what was on the agenda of Mr Latenen's visit.

The spokesman said the visit was arranged through a phone call between the minister and Mr Latenen. He would not give further details.

Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici had said in an interview with The Sunday Times in April that he expected Frontex to use its resources to repatriate illegal immigrants, a role it had not fulfilled despite having a mandate to do so.

In 2008, the number of migrant arrivals was the highest ever at 2,775.