(Barbados Nation) Yet another government in the Caribbean has been accused of treating Caricom nationals harshly.

Following the tongue-lashing of Barbados’ new immigration policy announced by Prime Minister David Thompson earlier this month, Antigua and Barbuda’s Opposition Leader Lester Bird has blasted his country’s government for what he termed “a heartless policy toward nationals of Caricom countries, in particular Guyanese and Jamaicans”.

In a media statement, Bird accused the Baldwin Spencer administration of operating a clandestine and heartless policy, saying he had received reports of the homes of illegal immigrants being raided in the dead of night and people being dragged away and put on planes out of Antigua without due process.

“The Antiguan and Barbudan society is not an inhuman and uncaring one. We do not treat people with such contempt, particularly our Caricom brothers and sisters with whom we share a common history and culture,” Bird declared.

“If Caricom nationals are in Antigua and Barbuda illegally, they should undergo a legal process to determine their status and only a court should determine if they are to be deported. Deportation is a legal process,” he added.

Bird added that he fully endorsed the positions of two Caricom leaders, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines and President Bharat Jagdeo of Guyana, who recently blasted Thompson’s new amnesty, which gives Caricom nationals residing illegally in Barbados six months to have their status regularised or be deported.