Immigration raids continue in Ħamrun and Marsa

Police have continued with their immigration raides in Ħamrun and Marsa, finding 29 people living in Malta irregularly. 

In a press statement, police said that these people were taken to a detention centre, where they've started a process to send them away from Malta. 

Police said they will be investigating their employers and landlords in collaboration with other authorities. 

The migrants detained during these raids are from Senegal, Ghana, Gambia, Afghanistan, Mali, Egypt and Syria. 

Police have cracked down on irregular migration after a brawl broke out between rival Syrian communities in August. The brawl, on the Ħamrun High Street at Fra Diegu Square, was shot on mobile phone video and went viral, provoking a backlash of anti-immigrant outrage.

The government was quick to take the cue from the outrage, with Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri ordering immigration raids that drastically increased in frequency, promoted by Camilleri personally with photos of police raids which he said were centred around “prevention, returns and relocations.”

The raids are believed to have targeted visa overstayers, that is, asylum seekers who obtained international protection in another EU country, such as Italy, then crossed over to Malta.

According to the EU’s Dublin Regulation, they are not entitled to work in Schengen countries like Malta but can stay for no more than three months.

Refugees and asylum seekers with protection from the Maltese government cannot be returned to their country of origin while still under protection.