Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams Assures Barbadians of National Security Amid US Immigration Crackdown

Abrahams added: “So that by the time the plane lands in Barbados, we know exactly who we’re looking for. We know who has overstayed elsewhere. We’ve had a profile on every single person that comes in.

“If people think it’s a big mystery, no. If they put on 150 people on the plane . . . then we will know, before they land, exactly who was convicted of a violent crime, who got this, who got that, who we need to monitor and the police

will be notified. I can just reassure Bajans that we will deal with it how it comes, and we’re not without our own powers.”

Routine measures

He said these were routine security measures that most of the governments in the Caribbean practise.

“But it would be good to get a heads-up. We will play the ball as it is rolled and take the necessary steps to ensure that our national security is not compromised and that everybody is treated on their own merit.”

Yesterday several Caribbean media sites were flooded with reports about the possible deportation of CARICOM nationals.

Barbados’ Ambassador to CARICOM, David Comissiong, told the Weekend Nation

that while such mass deportations might be a first for the Caribbean, countries will have to “figure out” how to deal with it.

“I think it has now become fairly clear that there will be significant deportations from the United States back to our CARICOM countries. Where Barbados is concerned, I get the impression that the number will be fairly modest, and I know that our governmental authorities are already making preparations for the modest number that might be deported back to Barbados. I think some of our fellow CARICOM member states will clearly have a bigger problem than Barbados.

“We are going to have to figure this out, how we accept and reintegrate whatever numbers of our nationals that are deported.”

He added that by the CARICOM Heads of Government Conference in Barbados next month, regional leaders “should have a very good idea of how severe the problem is going to be”.

“It will present us with a good opportunity for putting our heads together and seeing how, as a community, we can help each other to be able to accept our nationals and to reintegrate them properly into their home countries,” Comissiong said.

However, Sir Ronald Sanders, Antigua’s Ambassador to the US, writing in his syndicated column, warned that the deportation of such large numbers could have a negative effect on Caribbean communities.

“Absorbing large numbers of deportees suddenly can have a disrupting effect on the social services of CARICOM governments, particularly in relation to health care and education. The additional strain could exacerbate unemployment and, potentially, contribute to a rise in crime rates. These are all factors that will have to be monitored closely and appropriate representation made to the US government if the problems become unmanageable,” he stated. (MB)