Lest my haters, detractors and those who do not wish this country well deliberately distort and misconstrue my views, let me preface this by highlighting our love, respect and embracement of the Haitian people who have positively contributed to the development of this country and have assimilated themselves respectfully into mainstream society and become responsible, true and caring Turks and Caicos Islanders. Having said that, it is never more true than now as it relates to our immigration problems, that enough is enough and it’s about time that proactive, deliberate and effective measures be taken to rid ourselves of this devastating and costly menace of illegal immigration and illegal occupation
It is indeed distressing and alarming to say the least, realizing that our Beautiful By Nature Turks and Caicos Islands are under siege by well calculated and deliberate invasive forces in the form of illegal Haitian nationals. This rapidly expanding army of illegals compliment and reinforce the thousands of legal non-Belonger Haitians who are already fearlessly and boldly flexing their muscles and expressing their evil intentions to take over our country. The sad and inexplicable aspect of all of this is that our government, inclusive of our British Colonialists element, seems to be the only ones that are oblivious to this looming threat to our national security.
Consequently, one is left to wonder if this apathetic, lame duck approach in dealing with this festering issue is because of election entanglements and or the lack of vision or the will to tackle it head on.
It is obvious that we as a people inclusive of government and populace, have been far too complacent and too gutless for too long to the extent that we have already lost almost everything that is dear and precious to us inclusive of key authoritative positions in the civil service as well as the private sector.
The mistake is often made in recognizing only illegal immigration as a major problem, however the truth is that we have an immigration problem, both illegal and legal and until such time as this is recognized and tackled forcibly and systematically, we will continue to see our country slipping our of our hands.
The illegal entry by sloops and go fast boats is but one of the contributing factors that not only facilitates human trafficking but the trafficking of illegal drugs, guns and ammunition that results in an overwhelming superiority of an invisible illegal military element in our country.
A combination of these illegal, invasive activities poses the biggest threat to our safety, our national security, our job security, and in the long run, our franchise security.
The arrogance and effrontery displayed in the bold and relentless efforts to illegally enter our country fearlessly, find jobs illegally, build shacks illegally on crown land and people’s private property, and the blatant disrespect for our limited sovereignty, demand that we as a Turks and Caicos people, rise to this overbearing challenge and take bold, stinging Initiatives that would effectively rid ourselves of this menacing plague that is tantamount to a subtle, well thought out, incremental coupe.
There is absolutely no justifiable reason why legitimate Turks and Caicos Islanders should be negatively impacted in the Turks and Caicos by illegal Haitians and legal non Belonger Haitians in the Turks and Caicos should not share in the agony that is being presumptuously perpetuated by illegal Haitian invaders.
If we are to effectively tackle our festering illegal Haitian immigration problems, it is imperative that official, diplomatic, bilateral talks between Turks and Caicos government officials and Haitian government officials take place at the highest level. It gives our officials the opportunity to sensitize the present Haitian government of the historic long term love and support we shared with its people over the years. Alluding to the thousands of Belonger Status, Permanent Residence Certificates, Naturalizations and work permits. Not to mention the thousands of their children that we educated free and are still educating, the tens of millions of dollars annually that are sent to Haiti as remittances, the inclusion in our civil service, the opportunity to establish businesses and the list goes on.
Our officials need to impress on the Haitian officials that while we have been and are still being excessively benevolent to its people, there is the need for them to recognize the need for us to maintain our national security, and our socio economic and political prominence in our country. As such, there is an obligation on the Haitian government to not even appear to be complicit in any way in this illegal surge to take over our country, hence their obligation to visibly assist in stemming this illegal flow.
This may be done by the Haitian authorities preventing sloops from leaving illegally, sponsoring public service announcement that discourage this illegal traffic, funding the repatriation of their illegals caught in the islands and severely punishing those illegals that are returned. In the event that a captain is not identified among any of the illegals that come by boat, then the Haitian government will provide a captain to take back an acceptable load on a sea worthy vessels.
If the Haitian authorities prove unwilling or unable to assist us in this fight, then there are consequential measures that the TCI government would take to drastically and decisively stem the flow of these illegals.
Furthermore, the Turks and Caicos government has options that should already have been put in place such as:
- – The cancellation and non renewal of Haitian work permits.
- – The non issuance of first time work permits to Haitian nationals
- – Stem the flow of the remittances of the tens of millions of dollars that are sent to Haiti annually that obviously help to facilitate the human, drug, gun and ammunition trafficking.
- – Initiate a serious crackdown on the illegal jitneys
- – In the absence of militarily qualified personnel to root out the illegals from the bush and the unwillingness of the British to provide such forces, then
the immigration department bring in expatriate militarily qualified personnel to compliment its task force. - – Reassign the task force to visit construction job sites, hotels and other businesses.
- – Place severe penalties inclusive of prison sentences on persons who harbour and employ illegals
- – Eliminate the government Stamp program that hires numerous Haitian nationals with just a stamp in their passports.
- – Have work permit holders to leave the country if impregnated until after childbirth.
- – A crackdown on illegal shops, illegal restaurants, illegal car sales business and other illegal businesses
- – prepare a detailed position paper and appeal to the British, American Government, CARICOM, the United Nations and the European Union to recognize the invasion and assist in bringing it to a halt.
- – Join forces with the Bahamian government to jointly approach the problem as they also suffer from it.
While this is not an exhaustive list of options to tackle this problem, it is an effective list that would go a mighty long way in dealing with this threat and taking back our country. What is also important is that it provides options that may begin tomorrow without additional budgeting and staffing or British government approval and be effective at the same time.
Related Posts
Nothing found.