The Church provides accommodation to some 400 migrants in shelters across the country, according to the head of the Emigrants Commission.
Mgr Alfred Vella told the Times of Malta that those asking why the Church had not opened its doors to migrants living in poor conditions were “misinformed”.
One of the evicted migrants has taken to living in another abandoned farm nearby.“The Church has opened its doors, and has been doing so on a constant basis for decades,” he said.
Mgr Vella said the Church had 14 community homes, across seven localities, that offered shelter to varying degrees for migrants who had come upon hard times.
“This is an initiative that has been going on for years,” he said.
Mgr Vella was contacted after a number of Times of Malta readers asked why organisations like the Church had not offered a group of homeless migrants a place to live.
The government has said the group of migrants who were found living in inhumane conditions on a cow farm last week, would soon be sent back to Italy.
The 120 migrants were evicted from the cow farm in Qormi by the Planning Authority and the police last week.
The migrants were living in cow stalls, which had been converted into a shanty dormitory with wooden partitions separating makeshift bedrooms.
The authorities said they had received numerous reports and complaints about the establishment prior to taking action.
With nowhere to go, some of the migrants have even begged to return to the farm but have not been allowed back in.
'Anything is better than living like this'
On Thursday, the Times of Malta met with one of the evicted migrants who has taken to living in another abandoned farm nearby.
It was better than being homeless
Dejected, the 28-year-old Eritrean walked through the filthy former chicken farm, dodging the faeces, rusted metal and broken glass that littered the floor.
“I have been sleeping here. We lived in the other place [the cow farm] because it was better than being homeless. Anything is better than living like this,” he said.
The irregular hostel where the young man had been living was closed because its change of use from a farm to a place of residence had not been sanctioned by a planning permit.
The technicalities, however, are lost on those whose lives have been changed. In the surrounding fields, signs of life after the eviction are scattered – mattresses and cardboard boxes are the only accommodation left for some.
Act in Malta’s interest – PN
The Nationalist Party said the government should act according to the national interest in the case of the 120 migrants evicted from a cow farm in the limits of Qormi.
The “notorious” case of the immigrants living in “inhumane” conditions, meant the government needed to shoulder political responsibility, the party said.
“Every case of irregular immigration should be handled on a case-by-case basis, thus requiring identification and scrutiny of documentation, if provided, since many of the immigrants that enter Malta usually do not provide such papers.”
It insisted there was need of a total overhaul of the system in place with regard to immigration since “the current one failed”.
“A new Nationalist government will invest in the projects needed for the regeneration of different localities like Marsa and Birżebbuġa,” the party said.