The recently introduced immigration policy by the Government of Barbados is being blamed for the disruption of a number of once bonded families.

Reports from sources on the island have stated that a number of Guyanese women and men, along with other CARICOM nationals who are in the undocumented category, are in union with Barbados nationals.

They now find themselves between a rock and a hard place, with the choice of either leaving their partners behind and returning home, or staying on the island at their own peril and being rounded up and deported.

In some instances, at the centre of the union are children, some fathered by the Barbadian men, or being adopted by them as their own offspring. Then, too, there are children whose parents are both undocumented.

A worrying situation in all of this is where the children of Guyanese nationality are unable to attend school because they will not be accepted in the normal school system, and the parents cannot afford to enroll them in any of the private schools on the island.

Prime Minister David Thompson’s recent immigration policy has further complicated the family lives of those in the undocumented category, and in an invited comment to the Guyana Chronicle while here for the just-concluded Heads of Government conference on his government’s take on family values against the backdrop of the disruption of families, he acknowledged that the issue is one of the biggest concerns of his government.

“ This is one of the Government’s biggest concern…the fact that there are children involved who are not going to school. In fact, it is one of the issues that propels the managed migration policy so that families could be drawn together more,” the Prime Minister said.

Thompson had, prior to being asked for the comment, categorically stated at a news conference he hosted at Cara Lodge in Georgetown to clarify his government’s position on the new immigration policy, amidst claims of ill-treatment of non-nationals, in particular Guyanese, the “unrestricted freedom of movement is not in place in the Caribbean Community, and Barbados is not in breach of any of its Treaty obligations in removing those persons whose presence in our country is sanctioned neither by our immigration laws nor by any of the provisions within CARICOM to which we have agreed.”

On this note, he made reference and quoted Barbadian regionalist and former Prime Minister Errol Barrow, who in a 1996 address to regional heads, said, “I should like to believe that we are all committed to the principle of mobility and people interaction, to the principle … and that we have an obligation to think and go on thinking out ways how such a principle might be applied without imposing on any territory a greater strain than its resources are able to support.”

Thompson, noting that the essence of Barrow’s comment is the need for a balanced, manageable approach, added that if all of the passengers on a boat rush suddenly to one side, it would capsize.

Further, he remarked, it is his belief that until the growth in our economies is such that they can sustain full free movement , “ we should move towards a formal system of managed migration through guest worker programmes similar to the type we currently enjoy with Canada and the United States.”

Meanwhile, former Commonwealth Secretary General, Sir Shridath Ramphal, who has been very vocal on the Guyana/Barbados undocumented issue, has called for a common immigration policy to be adopted within the region, saying it is in this area that the challenge lies.

Speaking with international, regional and local media operatives on Friday last at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, the venue of the Summit meetings, the Guyanese-born Sir Shridath observed that migration by people of the Caribbean has been ongoing for almost a century; and the genuine problem is one of migration that is not managed and regulated.

Managed migration, he added, is a necessary interim step as the region moves towards full single economy.

“Barbados wants a managed migration programme. There should be a common regional approach to migration and this is where the challenge lies. There should be commonality, and no one country should bare a disproportionate volume of the migration process and this is what has happened in Barbados.”

Touching on the same contentious immigration issue as he addressed a number of matters when approached by the media, Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding expressed the hope that the meeting would reach a consensus as it relates to the issue of free movement.

Reminding that it was at an Intercessional of the CARICOM Heads in St. Vincent and the Grenadines that a decision was taken to, by the end of 2009, all CARICOM nationals, whether they are journalists or entertainers, would be free to move within the CARICOM community, the Jamaican Prime Minister said he has cautioned his country about waiting until year end to address the issue.

And, according to him, while in excess of 500 of his country’s national are having problems in other CARICOM countries, Jamaica is battling with the issue of Haitians who have migrated there.

“And it has posed many problems for us in different ways; but these are issues that we must come to the table with. I do not think it is the proper approach for any head to take a unilateral position and to forsake our sovereignty to do what we think is in our best national interest.

“We are part of a community; and if we have difficulty in honouring our commitment, let us talk about it; because I don’t think that any of us is so unreasonable that we are not prepared to empathise and work with a country that may have difficulty in fulfilling an obligation,” Golding added.