People at risk of deportation 'do not depend on state handouts'

Withdrawing the Temporary Humanitarian Protection-new (THPn) will put many people on the brink of poverty, Solidarity with Migrants says in reaction to online attacks on migrants who have made built life in Malta

Innocent Lokri, a Nigerian who raised his children in Malta, who last week begged the President for help has been the target of racist online attacks
Innocent Lokri, a Nigerian who raised his children in Malta, who last week begged the President for help has been the target of racist online attacks

Reiterating their call to regularise the status of asylum-seekers who have settled in Malta, the group Solidarity with Migrants has expressed its dismay at attempts on social media sites and news portals to portray people seeking protection as parasites.

A number of racist and xenophobic groups and individuals have targeted asylum-seekers at risk of deportation who last week met President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca by portraying them as people who do not need protection because they lead a normal life.

The group Solidarity with Migrants, led by a number of academics and activists, said it is not promoting the eradication of poverty among migrants but “the irrationality of withdrawing the THPN status of a number of migrants now enjoy.”

“Most of these migrants work and do not depend on state handouts. Some may have a decent standard of living. Withdrawing THPN will however put many of them on the brink of poverty and in a state of precarious existence. This will be detrimental both to the migrants themselves and to Maltese society in general,” the group said.

Academics led by lecturer Colin Calleja, activists and NGOs are calling on government to reconsider its decision to withdraw THPn and release the nine Malians who have spent more than two months in detention awaiting deportation.