Immigration to take centre stage at CARICOM Summit

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – CARICOM Heads of Government are meeting in Guyana this week for one of their regular biannual summits. Besides the usual agenda items including regional integration and trade, the issue of immigration is sure to be hotly debated by the regional leaders.

In May, Barbadian Prime Minister David Thompson instituted a six-month amnesty period for CARICOM nationals living illegally in Barbados. At the time, he stressed that those immigrants who failed to receive lawful permission to remain would be removed from the island. 

The move garnered backlash not only from the Barbadian opposition, but also from leaders around the region. Notably, Vincentian PM Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Trinidadian PM Patrick Manning and Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo said they received reports that nationals of their countries were being unfairly and cruelly treated by Barbadian immigration officials.

When the matter was taken to CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington at a press conference in St. Kitts last week, he took the diplomatic approach.

“I have heard reports of immigration officials raiding the homes of migrants, but there is no verification. The Treaty of Chaguaramas speaks of legal migration; it is important that people be allowed to regularise their status. I would hope that Barbadian officials have given these migrants the chance to do so. If they have not, then that is against the spirit of the treaty. But I stress again, there has been no verification of these claims,” said Carrington.

In the week leading up to the CARICOM Summit, Thompson has refused to back down, reiterating the will of his government to deport immigrants who fail to legalise their status. He said he would use the meeting as an opportunity to set the record straight on his government’s “policy position on issues of immigration, migration and the free movement of CARICOM nationals in and out of Barbados”.

“I will not be hiding from or ducking the issues. There is clearly a need for public education of all interest groups at all levels, and I intend to lead from the front on this issue. There must be no ambiguity about where Barbados stands on this issue. As Prime Minister, I will outline the policy position of the government and that which I sense is the position of the vast majority of Barbadians.

“I will take on board the concerns of colleagues, as well as accounts of specific incidents of less than professional conduct on the part of Barbadian authorities. I will investigate all such reports and act thereon. Above all else, I will embrace any and all ideas advanced by my colleagues towards managing, mitigating and eventually alleviating the challenge of illegal, undocumented and unchecked migration in Barbados,” the Prime Minister promised.