I wonder if there is some sort of international strategy going on by the Open Borders non-governmental organizations (NGO) movement to get rid of detention centers. We just saw the Obama Administration put in place new, less restrictive, requirements on detention that go into effect in January for “asylum seekers” coming across our borders. Now I see that in Malta the NGOs (probably mostly funded through some government program) are staging protests against detention of the mostly Africans who arrive there by the thousands each year.
From Malta Today:
Moviment Graffitti spokesperson Andre Callus yesterday said detention centres in Malta were “useless and unjust” and a “waste of financial and human resources”.
Representatives of Moviment Graffitti, Migrants’ Solidarity Movement, Jesuit Refugee Service, Third World Group, Moviment Azzjoni Xellug (MAX), Kopin, Alternattiva Demokratika Zghazagh and Zminijietna last night slept in a tent fenced by wire at City Gate, in solidarity with migrants imprisoned at the detention centres in Safi and Ta’ Kandja.
The shabby tent, intended to symbolise the appalling state of Malta’s closed detention centres, was already set up by yesterday morning, creating an unusual attraction for passers-by on their way to Republic Street for Christmas shopping.
Information leaflets were distributed to onlookers, who – according to the organisers – “have not been very negative about the idea of doing away with detention centres.” Callus however stressed the need for the public to become more familiar with the issue: to “know the difference between open centres and detention centres”, and to be more informed about the inhumane conditions in which the persons inhabiting the latter are currently living in.
“The detention system in Malta is creating unnecessary suffering,” Callus said. “People’s liberty is arbitrarily being taken away when they are locked up for a maximum of 18 months in small spaces with lack of hygiene, limited access to medical care, lack of fresh air and complete uncertainty about their situation and their future.”
Not a a first choice??? We just learned here that it was and the pull factor is the US State Department policy that is bringing hundreds of Malta’s illegal aliens to the US as refugees.
Callus explained that Malta is rarely the first choice for the vast majority of migrants, as many are brought to the island after encountering difficulties on their way to Italy. Therefore, he said, it is a misconception that detention centres act as a deterrent for people to come to Malta.
You know if the State Department had said no to former US Ambassador to Malta, ‘Tea Party Molly,’ who promoted the idea of transforming some of these Africans to refugees and helped send them to a town near you, there might be a significantly smaller pull factor for beleagured Malta.
For new readers, use the key word ‘Malta’ in our search box for the many posts we have written on the subject.