Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1276949
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 AUGUST 2020 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA GOVERNMENTS on the left as well as social liberals tend to be accused of hav- ing done no reassessment on issues of immigration and national identity, allow- ing a populist right-wing to capitalise on immigration fears among working-class electorates. Malta is a country governed by a cen- tre-left government which has totally embraced free market politics: it believes in tax competition, siphoning off profits generated in sometimes richer countries; it believes in the sale of citizenship, the sale of public land for private gain, and the free movement of labour to fulfil the market's need for cheaper salaries. To counter the rising scale of inequal- ity, Labour managed to bolster its wel- fare programme – it increased pensions, it gradually increased minimum wage – minimally, it reduced energy bills, re- moved exam fees, pays for free childcare and school transport, amongst many such universal services and welfare payments. But in spite of the robust economy and near full employment, the Maltese still rate immigration as one of their major concerns – especially Labour voters. The last MaltaToday survey alone rated im- migration the top concern (14.2%), down by half from 32% in November 2019. But it was a major concern for Labour voters (18.3%) and those living in the south (al- most 19%). Some of these concerns are related to direct living impacts: for example, people who live in proximity to migrant com- munities in Hamrun, Marsa, Hal Safi or Birzebbugia – their experience as neigh- bours is different to that experienced by others, whose encounter with African migrants is as consumers or recipients of public services such as garbage collection. That experience can be aggravated in ar- eas where migrants are unemployed, ex- ploited by the construction and other in- dustries, live in crowded apartments, are driven to criminality by a precarious ex- istence, or have mental health problems. Malta's racism problem is spoken about less than its immigration problem. African migrants rank the lowest in our perception of foreigners: we say little to nothing about legal workers from the East of Europe or Asia because we accept them as valid candidates for jobs the Maltese no longer seem available to do – such as in nursing or caring, or in catering and hospitality among many others; Middle Eastern workers hailed for their construc- tion skills also seem to be in good stead, even though the far-right goes nuts when it sees an expression of Muslim worship. It is black migrants who have it worse, and that's because they are starting from a position of illegality: not all of them qualify for asylum, which makes a sizea- ble portion of migrants technically 'un- wanted' and legally speaking, slated for removal from the country (even though this does not happen). This pool of usually unskilled or semi- skilled labour cannot transition seam- lessly into a state of legality because: (i) it tends to either be unemployed, or do temporary and ad hoc jobs for low pay; (ii) they are homeless or living in over- crowded, cheap housing in places close to Valletta and Floriana (where police and immigration controls are located) and Hamrun and Marsa (where the migrant reception is located and is now the major pick-up point for ad hoc work); (iii) stuck in a cycle of poverty and its associated social and health problems, they are the least likely to integrate without a gener- ous push from the State and the commu- nity to help them on. Reality about numbers Let's talk about the numbers: how much is too much? The role of criminal organisations in smuggling and trafficking 'illegal' immi- grants plays a major role in delegitimising their entry. Add to that the reticence of European states to actively rescue mi- grants due to populist anxieties on opin- ion polls and electoral results, and the mi- grant rescue NGOs and charities which are stepping in to fill that vacuum: it is a state of emergency every time a boatload of migrants is rescued and brought in to the island. But our international obliga- tions are clear: we must rescue people at risk of dying at sea. This logistical headache is handled first by the Armed Forces, and then a host of government agencies: port health author- ities, detention services which technically imprison people who have committed an illegal entry, and finally asylum welfare agencies and the workers processing asy- lum claims. Illegal entry, whether for asy- lum or simply running away from chaos in Africa, is taxing for both immigrants and hosts – the former needs it; the lat- ter sees it as disorderly, undeserving and intrusive. The emergency is not artificial. A gov- e r n m e n t source says the number of migrants residing in reception facili- ties (both closed and open) is over 3,500 – half of which arrived just in 2020. The Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seek- ers (AWAS) also supports an additional 720 migrants through public-private col- laborative projects. 2019 was a record year for migrant ar- rivals by boat in Malta: 3,405 – the second highest was 2,775 in 2008, the year before Silvio Berlusconi paid Muammar Gadd- afi €5 billion to stop boat departures. It 'worked' in 2010... just 47 arrived in Mal- ta. Then war broke out in Libya, and the numbers went back up. After the 2013 Lampedusa tragedy, the Mare Nostrum operation rescued hundreds of thousands to Italy, and Malta's arrivals were negligi- ble till 2018. But before we get to the numbers of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants in Malta, let's look at the reality of legalised entry through the Jobsplus data on other foreign workers. From 2011 onwards, foreign workers in Malta increased from around 13,000 to around 67,500 (of which 31,000 are non- EU nationals) – year on year, this was an average growth of 5,800 new foreign workers a year from both EU and non- EU. The biggest groups are Filipinos (5,300), Serbians (4,600) and Indians (4,300). The largest EU group is Italian (10,000). Argu- ably, nobody complains that much about Italian café-owners and pastry-makers, Filipino nurses and nannies, Serbian con- tractors and Indian bus drivers. At least, whatever gripes people have when it comes to some miscommunication about your restaurant order, nobody has ever called for their annihilation. The non-EU or Third Country Nation- als (TCNs) are clearly filling particular labour gaps in Malta: the majority, 8,800 are in support service jobs, while the rest are mainly in construction (4,100) and re- tail (4,000) or nursing and caring (3,700). Across these sectors, non-EU workers tend to be in elementary occupations (10,000) or as sales workers (6,800); to the contrary, EU workers are mainly manag- ers (5,000), professionals (6,400), techni- cians (5,300) or support workers (7,400). Little is said about these tens of thousands of foreign workers in legal employment, because our social pact with them is clear: p a y your taxes and rent. Those who stay on for 20 years could even get the chance of becoming a citizen, if they navigate the opaque system of citizenship that is con- trolled by government ministers. The Maltese instead tend to be particu- larly vocal about foreigners' crimes, which is why Paceville brawls between Eastern European staff and Syrian clubbers con- jure up images of a "jungle"; or crimes by Africans are met with a clamour for de- portation orders. It would seem logical to placate such calls with some form of ban- ishment, however it does little to address the reality of criminality amongst down- and-out and homeless migrants. But before addressing the issues of an- ti-social behaviour, criminality and secu- rity inside the towns that host the largest communities of Africans, the un-asked question is whether the Maltese have a social pact with these type of "illegiti- mate" migrants. In the record 2019 year, over 4,000 made an asylum claim, but that year the Maltese agency for international protection (the refugee commission) managed to process just over 1,000. Of these, 633 (60%) were rejected – technically, these people are handed a deportation order which how- ever is hard to carry out due to the lack of documentation and bureaucratic com- plications with the country of return. The highest form of protection (refugee sta- tus) was given to 48 people, while another 359 were given subsidiary protection, that is, it gets renewed on an annual basis and only until such time these people can re- turn safely to their country of origin. Historically this is the picture of asylum in Malta: every year in the last 12 years the islands gave refugee protection, on average, to 100 people; subsidiary protec- tion to 963 people a year; and rejections to 520 people every year. However, even if we had to instant- ly deport these rejected asylum seekers to their home countries, we are still not solving the problem we have with the co- hort of migrants who are probably – un- like those legal TCNs in Malta – in their majority uneducated, unskilled, poor, and unable to overcome other obstacles that will make it impossible for them to enter a state of "legitimacy" through legal work, decent pay and housing. Not just a numbers question Malta's asylum claims have grown at a much slower rate than its legal foreign cohort, yet the emergency discourse that irregular immigrants bring about, and the growing issue of anti-social behaviour in certain villages cannot be ignored by the State and political parties