QUESTIONS FOR TEAM BARBADOS AND THE PANELISTS ON DAVID ELLIS’ DOWN TO BRASS TACKS PROGRAMME ON MIGRATION, SUNDAY, JUNE 21 2009

by Annalee Davis

Current regional debate on the issue of intra-regional migration is expanding the discussion and forcing us to address some of the more complex issues surrounding the state of the CSME and intra-regional Caribbean migration. Given statements made by some of the panelists on Sunday’s Brass Tacks and in the Sunday Sun of the same date, where our Prime Minister denied knowledge of ‘house raids’ in Barbados, I thought it would be useful to pose questions to the panel, the relevant authorities and Team Barbados, in an effort to further contribute to the debate.

1. Lindsay Holder, one of the panelists on Brass Tacks, said that he sees nothing wrong with removing people from buses or houses at any time if they are here illegally. If they are undocumented, he said that they will continue hiding and the only opportunity to get them is through these means. Mr. Holder has also endorsed the Prime Minister’s statement that the level of undocumented immigration is unacceptably high in Barbados. Unfortunately, neither Mr. Holder nor the Prime Minister will quantify how many is too many. How many migrants can Barbados support? What is our target in terms of numbers – how many do we need to deport and how many will we allow to stay to contribute to the development of the economy? Various officials, including Maxine McLean confirm that statistics are available. Why have they not been made public? This information belongs to the people of Barbados and should be shared with the public so that instead of us all groping in the dark with unsubstantiated data, we can speak to the facts. Or is that the statistics do not confirm the statements about unacceptably high numbers of non-nationals?

2. What does it cost the government of Barbados to host each migrant? This is an interesting question because it requires knowing what the contribution is from each migrant versus what the state pays to support each migrant. For example, some migrants (both regular and irregular) pay NIS – a 21% contribution to the state coffers. The employee contributes approx 10%, and employer contributions are the same irrespective of nationality. What is the rate of non-nationals claiming benefits from the NIS versus the claim by nationals? (Up until recently, one could apply for an NIS number without a Barbados ID number. I was informed by telephone last week by the NIS office that the new requirement to obtain an NIS number is a six-month work permit, and a national ID number.) Does the welfare department see many non-nationals lining up for welfare? What is the full contribution to the economy of Barbados by the CARICOM national? A study needs to be conducted to understand the contributions of the CARICOM national to Team Barbados and within the CARICOM region. This includes economic, professional, social and cultural, contributions, among others.

3. Can officials clarify why it takes so long to process temporary work permits that are being renewed and why they need to go though the Ministry of Labour for approval? Why do applicants need to wait two weeks for a Certificate of Character and two-to- three weeks for the NIS letter of Compliance proving that the employee’s contributions are up to date? Given current available technology, is it not possible for the Immigration Department to access this required data on line? The department was issuing twelve month permits and although no official statement has been made or reason given, applicants can only get a six-month work permit, which often takes four to six months to process.

4. What is the impact of migrant labour or lack thereof on the agricultural industry? Given that the draft Medium term strategy for 2004 – 2007 stated that the target was to have four thousand acres of cotton planted by 2007, can we employ enough local Barbadians to harvest the cotton or should we look at outsourcing labour from around the region to assist in the expansion of this industry? And if our target was four thousand acress for 2007, why did we only harvest forty-five acres of cotton in 2009? What are the labour needs in the agricultural industry and can they be supplied locally? If they can’t, can we offer a farm workers programme to non-nationals?

5. In a recent article, (see www.creole-chant.blogspot.com) George Brathwaite asked if the Prime Minister of Barbados is aware that Barbados is signatory to a convention stating that it will “Ensure that laws concerning deportation or other forms of removal of non-citizens from the jurisdiction of the State party do not discriminate in purpose or effect among non-citizens on the basis of race, colour or ethnic or national origin, and that non-citizens have equal access to effective remedies, including the right to challenge expulsion orders, and are allowed effectively to pursue such remedies?” My question is; if we are signatory to international conventions that protect human beings why are we removing people in the way that we are? Who is giving the orders? Somebody is organizing the house raids and the rounding up of people on buses that our Prime Minister does not know about. Who is that somebody and why doesn’t the Prime Minister know about these regular occurrences in our country? What is the penalty for doing this? Can representatives of the state, out of uniform and without presentation of identification, stop individuals on the street and demand proof of their legal status to live, work and reside? Are raids made only on houses of the working poor, and on the buses, or do we raid homes in Sandy Lane and stop suspicious looking non-nationals in BMW’s as well? I am not suggesting that all Immigration Department and Police Force employees are callous and without sympathy. It might be more accurate to suggest that they lack the resources and possibly training required to do a better job.

6. If an Amnesty has been offered, does it not seem strange that during the amnesty period, an increase in raids and deportations is happening. Should this not be a grace period? Is this therefore an amnesty? If it isn’t, what is it? Does Immigration need to formalize the status of all undocumented migrants within this six-month amnesty? Given that six month work permit renewals take nearly six months to process, does the Immigration Department have the capacity to process the thousands of applications for regularization to occur?

7. Where does civil society stand in all this? Where are the religious groups who are concerned with the well being of our fellow men and women, the clubs, associations and societies who participate in building a healthy nation? Why the silence?

8. What concrete proposals will Team Barbados present on July 2nd in Georgetown at the Fifth meeting of CARICOM heads of government? Aside from offering an amnesty and telling the region to ‘Butt Out’ of our sovereign affairs, what solution can we offer to show our support for Article 45 that speaks to the free movement of CARICOM nationals within the community and which Prime Minister Thompson apparently endorses.

Once we have answered the questions above we might be able to ascertain what is the real threat the CARICOM migrant poses to this country versus the benefits. In other words, is the un/documented CARICOM national the real bogeyman, or, are they again, being used to provide cover for the real issue - the current economic state of affairs?

What if Team Barbados offered a real amnesty, draft the Administrative Order immediately to offer legal status to those who have been here five years or more and an opportunity for citizenship with a monetary penalty for breaking the law?


Annalee Davis is a visual artist living and working in Barbados. Her documentary’ On the Map’ looked at the movement of Guyanese into Barbados within the context of the CSME. She is currently working on Project 45 – a suite of forty-five artistic works that respond to Article 45 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and continue to examine the anxieties around intra-regional Caribbean migration. For more information visit www.creole-chant.blogspot.com and www.annaleedavis.com