My father was more or less in the same situation. Born and raised in Malta he emigrated to the US soon after WWII and after years working there he obtained citizenship. After gathering what was then a small fortune he came back to Malta looking for a wife to take with him back to the US. Unfortunately the woman he fell in love with (my mother) had her old parents to take care of, so he decided to wait patiently here with plans to eventually go back to the US with her at a later date.

Now, here's where the Labour party shennanigans start. My mother lived in a town which was predominantly Labour, and yet she was a nationalist. She was not a very vocal one, but she did not hide her opinions either. So when my father, under a Labour government, tried to get a side job to have some extra income to support the child they would soon have (me), someone from the Labour office got wind of this and made it clear that if he did not quit his job part time job immediately he would lose his right to live in Malta and risk having his possessions confiscated. Luckily we had some arable land so my father started farming it (not illegal since it was his own land) and my mother started selling the produce (not illegal either since she had full Maltese citizenship).

Unfortunately this was not the end of it. When I was of school age, as soon as I was old enough to lose the immunity from prejudice which all young children enjoy I started getting made fun of by teachers and started receiving excessive punishments for misbehavior - back then corporal punishment was still acceptable in schools. I was even denied the possibility to borrow books from the school library as my peers could on the grounds that my father was not a Maltese citizen. I swear I am not making this up. Only after my mother went to speak to the school's administration making it clear that SHE was a Maltese citizen I could start borrowing books.

As time went by it was clear I was not getting the support I required in public primary school. Luckily there was an opportunity for me to attend a church school. I have to "thank" Dom Mintoff for that I guess. My parents took that opportunity and I started my primary year 6 at a church school. My teachers were astounded by the progress I made in that year, from being one of the students who initially lagged behind I managed to become one of the best students in my class. All this goes to highlight the effects of political discrimination back then, which not only affected voting citizens but was also extended to their children.