What the commission says about the number of immigrants and number of births is indeed factually correct for the simple reason that there are three factors which are not widely considered and which do have a not insubstantial bearing on the data:

a. Illegal immigration does not include just the people who arrive so perilously by boat: There are the visa overstayers who are as numerous as immigrants coming from the sea. (In fact, the figures for repatriations given in parliament always include visa overstayers and not just those coming via boats – clearly indicating that the number of repatriation of boat people is factually less than the touted 50% rate).

b. Statistics of births include also children born to migrants and this fact should be considered as well as the birth-rate amongst migrants is much higher than in the local population.

c. Statistics for the actual number of people staying at the various privately-managed open centres are not exact and it is a known fact that stowaways and other migrants (who have somehow slipped the security net surrounding the islands) are accommodated there. This problem cannot really be assessed until a head count and proper documentation of sorts are introduced for migrants.

Hope to have clarified a bit this issue.

And then the usual cry from the racists is that they are worried about the potential increase in crime due to the influx of immigrants. Better a hundred decent immigrants than 5 or 6 Maltese potential murderers.

Could it be the reason why the Emigrants’ Commission reacted this way? I am only asking!

[Daphne – Make yourself clear, please. This is not a mind-reading forum. I think it only appropriate to point out at this juncture that when racists set fire to my home at 3am while we were asleep – my home, the actual building, and not the front door – it was the Imam who called me with words of solidarity and not the Archbishop or any other Catholic leader, except for the Jesuits who had been through the same thing themselves, and both called and wrote.]

The number of births in Malta in 2007 was 3,871.

Mgr Philip Calleja has dedicated his whole life to the welfare of migrants, Maltese and foreigners, besides other charitable works. During the last few years the migrants coming from Central and North Africa have been taking his time and energy. Those interested in his work may wish to visit the Emigrants’ Commission Office near the Upper Barrakka and see for themselves.

Your theory about the Church’s attitude is interesting but, apart from the fact that, as Corinne Vella states, many of the immigrants are Christian anyway, generations of Catholic missionaries have traveled the world to seek out the unbaptised and those who hadn’t received Jesus’s message.
The ‘heathens’ are now being delivered on our doorstep, so to speak, so the Church should welcome the challenge of facing Muslim and animist people locally. In football terms we’re playing this match at ‘home’ and the Church should be grateful for it.

I know Mons Calleja to be a refined and intelligent person who is well aware of what goes on around him, so your explanation that he was being diplomatic is almost certainly the right one. On reflection, I think I was being unfair to him personally*.

I’m afraid I’ve had too many online clashes with the likes of Malcolm Seychell and Norman Lowell (and physical ones with other breeds of thug, in years gone by) to give due credit to Mons Calleja’s poise and sang-froid when talking about disgusting things like racism; probably a question of temperament too.

* Still doesn’t change my opinion about the bad timing and wording of the Emigrants’ Commission’s statement.

[Daphne – On a similar note, Facebook seems to make otherwise sensible middle-aged people do the most ridiculous things. Check out Malcolm Seychell’s Facebook ‘friends’, complete with photographs. I would rather drink ink than allow a racist to list me as a ‘friend’ on Facebook, using my credibility to give him reflected credibility, but that is what those people are doing.]