Immigrants being kept in detention centres should be forced to work for their food and lodging, Azzjoni Nazzjonali suggested in a set of proposals on illegal immigration.
"Nobody eats and drinks without working except the sick and the elderly," party leader Josie Muscat said.
Speaking during a meeting attended by some 30 people yesterday morning, Dr Muscat said that after a few days of rest, illegal immigrants should be taken to clean and fix roads, paint lamp posts, fix walls and perform other embellishing work.
Among its 10 proposals, AN is also suggesting that immigrants who enter the island illegally or overstay their visa should be kept in detention until they decide to leave the island. Under no circumstance should they be granted Maltese citizenship, even if they marry locals.
The proposals come after a record number of immigrants reached Malta in February. On Wednesday, 227 healthy-looking illegal migrants arrived in Birżebbuġa claiming to be from Somalia. Together with the arrival of 262 migrants on February 1, it marked the beginning of a possible trend of arrivals in large boats during the off-peak winter season.
A proposal similar to the one made by AN, which essentially amounts to forced labour, had been dismissed by the former Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg, who had said that the government could not force immigrants to work without paying them.
When questioned yesterday, his successor Carm Mifsud Bonnici would not even comment on what his spokesman called "supposed proposals".
The unusual surge has prompted the Labour party to insist that the situation be discussed in Parliament with urgency. The Prime Minister disagreed that the matter is urgent but the two sides agreed to a debate scheduled for Wednesday.
Nationalist backbencher Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando has joined the fray too. Writing in The Times today (see back page) he says that immigrants should be sent back immediately - a suggestion which the government has dismissed over the years on the grounds that it runs contrary to Malta's international legal obligations in the case of those migrants who ask for refugee or humanitarian status.
The AN's Dr Muscat yesterday went as far as to suggest that Malta should declare a state of emergency and renounce obligations established by the Dublin II and Geneva conventions, which establish humanitarian standards. Referring to the Geneva Convention, Dr Muscat said this was never intended to "facilitate new colonialism".
"This is a case of national security for Malta and the government is obliged to protect the country and the people," he said.
Anyone caught employing illegal immigrants without permission, he said, should automatically lose their business licence while those convicted of human trafficking should receive a life sentence.
Moreover, immigrants intercepted at sea should be told how they will be treated in Malta and given all the necessary provisions and escorted to the edge of Maltese territorial waters if they decide to resume their journey to another country. Malta, he continued, should not accept any inspections of detention centres by foreigners.
"Anyone who wants to dictate how we treat immigrants can do us a favour and take them to his country."
Dr Muscat said AN also wants the government to give an ultimatum to other EU countries, threatening to withdraw its cooperation in formulation and enactment of European laws unless agreements are reached on obligatory burden sharing and repatriation to countries of origin.
Painting a bleak picture of illegal immigration, he said Malta was being invaded, adding that the island was too small to have "two peoples" coexisting. He said that not only were a number of immigrants bringing diseases like tuberculosis, AIDS and scabies to Malta, but they are also badly treating the soldiers who are taking care of them.