This column first appeared on Malta Today

Every once in a while we get photos splashed all over the media of immigrants, who are here illegally, being carted off by the police. This week was no exception, with newly appointed Home Affairs Minister Glenn Bedingfield proudly announcing that 19 such immigrants have been arrested.

“We cannot allow illegal activity. During the night, 19 people were stopped by the Police and Detention Officers because they were in Malta illegally. These individuals will be sent back to their country of origin.”

That’s all well and good, but let’s not forget why most of these people have ended up being illegal in the first place. It’s not because they snuck into Malta without a visa while customs officers were out to lunch; in most cases it’s because a job which was promised to them either did not materialise or because they were fired or changed their job but their new employer, JobsPlus and/or Identity Malta have not yet processed their application.  It is illegal for a TCN to begin working before receiving the final Single Permit or a “temporary authorisation to work” document.  The single permit is a combined residence and work permit so they cannot have one without the other.

Taking all this bureaucracy and the human factor into consideration it is easy to see how people end up slipping through the net and living here in a highly precarious situation with no legal status.  When it is employers who have failed to submit the application or who are hiring TCNs illegally, then I would like to see them  being prosecuted and held accountable with the same vigour as immigrants who, because of their race and skin colour, are the easy targets.  If this new administration wants to turn over a new leaf and start this term on the right foot, it should start going after the source of the problem, rather than its hapless victims.  It is also high time for an overhaul of the TCN work permit process so that no foreign national, who was promised work, ends up on this island bewildered, alone, jobless and homeless, only to be picked up in the occasional raid by the police. 

Meanwhile, Mr Bedingfield’s self-righteous claim that “we cannot allow illegal activity” would be laudable if it were not so contradictory to what we see all around us.  No sooner had the ink dried on the election results than we learned of a villa which had virtually been built illegally overnight in Armier.  

According to reports, “Photos of the site taken on Tuesday 9 June show a roof now fixed to the structure, which on 29 May was just a collection of bricks waiting to be assembled. Outlining the rapid progression of the construction, the Malta Rangers posted photos showing bricks brought to the site at the end of May, put in place on 3 June and a worker assembling walls on 5 June when the case was first highlighted in the media. Plastering of the walls and the installation of ceiling beams were completed by the following day, the rangers said.”

The environmental NGO said its rangers first flagged the site on 30 May, after coming across works on land which, according to them, had previously been unbuilt. After checking the Planning Authority’s geo-server, the rangers said they found no permit covering the works and alerted PA enforcement officers. The PA ordered works to be stopped and gave the owner 16 days to restore the site to its original state …the owner simply ignored the order and kept on building. 

Meanwhile the Planning Authority said on Wednesday that it will ‘consider’ taking further action against the owner who was openly defying its enforcement notice.  This lame statement prompted much-deserved derision by the public. What on earth is there to consider? It’s illegal, so bring in the bulldozers and demolish it. 

However, as the Momentum party rightly pointed out: “Under current procedures, developments can continue even after enforcement notices are issued, with fines accruing over time while physical intervention is only possible after a €50,000 threshold of fines is reached…The Planning Authority issues notices, the person acting illegally carries on building, and by the time any serious action is contemplated, the villa is finished. This cannot be allowed to stand. The structure must be demolished, the land restored, and the law applied equally to everyone.”

But, of course, this is no lowly worker from Syria, Gambia, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Albania, Ghana, Bangladesh or Mali (the countries which were prominently singled out in the news in connection with the night-time raid for illegal immigrants).  No, here we are talking about “one of us” but, more significantly, someone who probably has lots of connections in high places, otherwise how does he keep building this illegal villa with impunity and in full view of the PA, while laughing in their face?  It would be even more ironic and tragically sad if he were using illegal immigrants to build his villa. 

And, please, I cannot bear to read another sarcastic “well, that’s what people voted for” because frankly it is an insult to those who didn’t vote for this Government and it also implies that we should all shut up and not hold politicians to account once an election is over.  Rather than hitting the keyboard with these smug, pat phrases, we should take a leaf out of Albania’s book where the citizens have really stood up to be counted.  

Ever since a controversial $5.8 billion luxury resort project linked to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner was announced, the protests haven’t stopped. On Thursday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets once again objecting against this mega project which threatens a pristine area of the coast, including one of the Mediterranean’s largest flamingo habitats.  The demonstrations have escalated not only because of the potential environmental disaster and because land is being taken away from local communities, but because this was the tipping point of the frustration and mounting anger felt against the current government’s corruption. Despite being such a poor country, the protesters’ slogan is: “Albania is not for sale”.

We can only dream for the Maltese to love their country so much that they would come out in their thousands to say “hands off” our land. Instead, when they read about land grabs, too many people simply shrug and mumble something about the economy and jobs.  I even saw one comment which said, “mind your own business, everyone wants to interfere, leave this man alone. He saw his chance and he took it.” I was gratified to see that so many people responded with scathing remarks in reply to this clueless mentality.  After all, if we descend into anarchy and everyone can do what they like, next time it will be someone next door to you who will break the law to your detriment. 

Ultimately, if this newly-elected administration really wants to impress us, let’s see them go after the big guns like the owner of the Armier villa.  Only then can we take the boastful press releases by members of the new Cabinet seriously.