Activist and personality Peppi Azzopardi has spoken out against the government’s decision to deport a Gambian DJ who has been living in Malta for the past 18 years.“The Prime Minister said that we need 14,000 foreigners each year. So why are we kicking out this person?” Azzopardi wrote on Facebook.“Where is the social conscience of the supposedly Labour Cabinet? This is cruelty.” View this post on InstagramA post shared by Lovin Malta (@lovinmalta)Yusupha Dibassey, known as DJ Dollarino, was detained last week after he went to renew documents that allowed him to stay and work in Malta.Dibassey arrived in Malta from The Gambia in 2008 and has spent the last 18 years living and working on the island while regularly renewing temporary documentation issued to rejected asylum seekers. He is now being asked to accept voluntary return to The Gambia, which he has so far declined.Dance Beyond Borders, backed by former president Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, NGOs and members of Malta’s cultural sector, is calling on the government to halt his removal and consider whether he can regularise his status, citing his long residence, integration and community ties.Peppi Azzopardi has joined these calls, arguing that Dibassey has integrated with Maltese society and never committed a criminal act.Former Nationalist MP Albert Buttigieg also weighed in, highlighting that the same happened to two people from Ethiopia a few months ago, who had also been living in Malta for more than 18 years.He stressed that during this time, they built their lives here, paid taxes, raised families, and “caused no trouble to anyone”.Their permits were renewed by successive governments over almost two decades.“So they should not be the ones paying the price for the government’s delays. That is where the injustice lies.”Buttigieg argued that while people coming to Malta should have the proper permits from day one, the government should regularise those who have been living here for years, have built their lives here, and have never had any problems with the law.“Let us not treat these people as disposable. Some of them behave better than some Maltese people!”What do you think about this issue?•