Winter landing

For the first time in months, a group of 182 illegal immigrants from North Africa were brought to Malta late on Sunday after their boat was intercepted 20 miles off the Maltese coast. Reuters reports:

..Migrants normally arrive in Malta by accident, with the migrants actually aiming for Sicily or mainland Italy. This was the first landing of illegal migrants in several months, with attempts to cross the Mediterranean rare during winter weather. Malta held some 1,500 migrants in detention camps during the summer, but several hundred have since been repatriated. The island enforces a controversial detention policy where migrants are held for a maximum of 18 months in detention until they are repatriated or granted humanitarian protection. It insists such a policy is needed because of the island's small size and population density