– stern rhetoric, no data
IT WOULD be surprising to learn that the two-day 12th meeting of Caricom Foreign Ministers concluded in Kingston yesterday without considering, as a matter of urgent importance, last Tuesday’s statement by Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson, threatening mass deportation of Community nationals — unless they comply with a six-month amnesty to regularise their status by year end.

Prime Minister Thompson’s statement in parliament, while not offering even an estimated number of non-nationals from the Caribbean living illegally in Barbados, gave the stern warning that if, by the end of the six-month amnesty period, starting this coming June 1, they failed to regularise their status, they would be ‘removed’ — deported.

Most of Caricom’s 15 member states are faced with the challenges of having nationals from Community jurisdictions, among them the undocumented, who work and enjoy social benefits.

In the absence of precise statistics, speculations run the gamut on the size of the undocumented or illegals, with figures ranging from a low of approximately 8,000 to above 30,000 (over an accumulated period). The bulk of such immigrants are reported to comprise Vincentians, Guyanese, St Lucians and Grenadians — in that order — but also include Jamaicans, and lesser still, Kittians, Antiguans and Trinidadians.

For its part, Trinidad and Tobago, from colonialism to constitutional republic, is reputed to still be the Caricom state that has the biggest challenge in coping with immigrants, in particular from Caricom, more than any other of the Community partners.

Successive administrations in Port-of-Spain have, nevertheless, managed to avoid the so-called ‘red flag’ scenario that has now surfaced in Barbados.

Thompson’s governing Democratic Labour Party, which replaced the third-term Barbados Labour Party administration of former Prime Minister Owen Arthur in January 2008, has been consistent with its passion to check what it presents as “the flow of Caricom immigrants” that places a “burden” on the economy, and which it was no longer prepared to tolerate.

Last week’s latest development of a six-month grace period before the threatened mass deportation programme is enforced, has come at a time when the Caribbean Community continues to grapple, uneasily, with sensitive issues like common policies on managed migration and freedom of movement.

Opposition criticism
Matters are likely to become even more challenging in view of the spiralling negative effects on regional economies as a direct consequence of the global economic crisis.

Sharp criticisms of the Thompson government’s policy on illegal immigrants have already come from Opposition Leader of the Barbados Labour Party and former Attorney General, Mia Mottley.

She has deemed it to be “discriminatory” — since only nationals of CARICOM states have been targeted, without any reference to illegal immigrants from non-Caribbean countries, such as North America and Europe.

Further, Mottley, who was Deputy Prime Minister in the BLP administration, said the move could result in serious consequences for Barbados, which has been benefitting the most from intra-regional trade and investments among Caricom states.

There is a perception, in and beyond Barbados, that the David Thompson administration is indulging in foot-dragging politics when it comes to expediting implementation arrangements for Caricom’s Single Market and Economy (CSME), for which its Prime Minister holds lead responsibility.

When, however, it comes to dealing with the presence of Caricom immigrants who may be among the undocumented, or ‘illegals’, the reality is that the administration reveals much vigour in seeking to free Barbados of what it projects as “a burden the nation cannot bear…”

The relevant statistics in support of this contention continues to be elusive. What’s not in short supply are the unflattering images, to say it politely, being painted by the government spokespersons of Caricom “immigrants”.

Unflattering images
When not blamed for “overcrowding” in the illicit sex trade; for “squatting and drug-peddling”, they can also be contemptuously dismissed for reducing Barbados to “a kind of warehouse in which is stored the social and other problems of the Caribbean…” according to Attorney General, Freundel Stuart.

These claimed “squatters” and “drug-peddlers,” according to Prime Minister Thompson himself, are people from countries “used to underclasses,” and accustomed to “substandard conditions.”

Such utterances have been reported, unchallenged, in the local media. The small but vocal segment of anti-immigrants Bajans are delighted by such outbursts — even as the government’s promised policy on “planned migration” is yet to unfold.

But this is not viewed as the sentiment of the majority of Barbadians, and there continues to be conflicting views on what’s evolving as a problem that Caricom governments cannot afford to ignore. In particular, those administrations whose nationals are likely to be the most affected –such as St Vincent and the Grenadines; Guyana, St Lucia and Grenada.

Declaring that “the problem of illegal immigration can no longer be ignored..,” in view of the economic burden the government has to bear, Prime Minister Thompson made it clear in parliament last Tuesday: “…therefore, with effect from June 1, 2009, all undocumented Caricom nationals who entered Barbados prior to December 31, 2005 and remained undocumented for a period of eight years or more, are required to come forward and have their status regularised…

“After the qualifying period has expired,” stressed Thompson, “those Caricom nationals without lawful permission to remain in the island will be removed…”

Well, the feeling is that since he has made his government’s position so pellucidly clear, then, in all fairness to both Barbadians and the affected Caricom nationals, it would be quite appropriate for Prime Minister Thompson to provide the basic data to back the rhetoric on why Barbados should “no longer bear the burden” associated with illegal Caricom immigrants.

There are those who contend that the information on this “burden” should be shared with at least those governments whose nationals are part of the problem, and done in accordance with the spirit of “Caricom unity.”

Will it happen? And what if Trinidad and Tobago, for instance, decides to also pursue a programme to rid itself of undocumented Caricom immigrants?

Given the Patrick Manning administration’s stated commitment to pursue an economic union arrangement with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), it is doubtful that such a development is likely.