Malta has become a place of immigration, as it is located on one of the main routes that links Africa with Europe. For irregular immigrants the living conditions in “closed and open centres” are poor, with scarce opportunities to get integrated to the Maltese society. For Malta this system is at the same time a deterrent and a weight to use in the power relations with the European Union, an actor that tries to shift the burden of patrolling and managing asylum seekers to small and marginal States at the border of the empire.