If you don't like immigration policy, stay out: B'dos PM

Barbadian Prime Minister David Thompson is defending his island's new immigration policy, which gives illegal aliens a six-month amnesty to apply for proper status of be kicked out.

And he said the statements from Caribbean governments that are unhappy with the policy are hurting the regional integration process more that the policy itself.

Thompson told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), “There seems to be a mad rush now for everybody to say something new. I have announced a domestic immigration policy, that is not a matter for other Caribbean prime ministers to comment on,”

Thompson said the six-month amnesty offered to Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nationals living in Barbados illegally to regularise their status or face deportation will stay.

The CMC said Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo has expressed concern about the treatment meted out to his nationals in Barbados, many of whom claim they have been roughed up by immigration authorities and deported.

It also said St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has also raised concerns about Bridgetown’s policy, saying it flies in the face of the spirit of CARICOM.

The news agency said Thompson's position is that Barbados has a right to pursue its policy.

“It is a sovereign matter which our Parliament and our policy directives base the objectives on,” CMC quoted him as saying, adding “therefore, to have scenario where everybody is seeking to say something seems to me to be doing more to damage the objectives of CARICOM than anything else”.

CMC says the immigration issue is likely to stir up debate when at the CARICOM Heads of Government Summit in Guyana from July 2-4.

It said Opposition Leader Mia Mottley has called on the government to “correct the unfortunate reputation that Barbados is rapidly developing” as a result of its new immigration policy.

“A government is entitled to implement strong policies. These policies, however, must be applied consistently, fairly and humanely,” she said.

According to CMC Mottley also expressed fear that “for a country where people’s standard of living depends on people visiting our shores, any reputation of Barbados being inhospitable to visitors will affect our economy. "

Mottley said while she accepts that Barbados must follow policies that are in its best interests authorities must be careful to act in such a manner that "when people are asked to leave that they are given the time to pack up their belongings and leave in a manner that does not reduce them to feeling like criminals.”