(Antigua Sun) – The Jamaica/Antigua Association wants government to consider having a special building for use as an Immigration Holding Facility.
This idea was among a list of others which the association has proposed for government’s consideration in its drive to come up with a new immigration policy.
Minister of National Security Dr Errol Cort said Interim President of the association Andrew McDonald submitted a list of recommendations.
Cort shared them with the public during the consultation on immigration and electoral reform which was held on Wednesday evening. McDonald was not present but formally conveyed his apologies.
“Take immediate steps to renovate and lease the lower floor of the building which is adjacent to the St John’s Police Station and formerly a music store to function as an Immigration Holding Facility. The current situation is archaic, impractical and inhumane,” McDonald said in his statement.
The association wants every attempt to be made to have immigrants regularise without fear of deportation. They believe that government should grant a period of six months to those who are not fugitives from the law, have not broken the laws of Antigua and Barbuda and have been making a contribution to the state.
McDonald is calling on the government to employ immigration officers to track down and detain individuals who are on the island illegal and for legislation to be enacted to fine employers stiff penalties for employing illegal immigrants.
Besides this, McDonald is hoping that the government would administer the immigration laws fairly and without exceptions being granted to any specific “ethnic” group.
With respect to electoral reform, McDonald said those immigrants who have attained three years uninterrupted residency should be granted permanent residence, should have a valid work permit and be allowed to vote. “Citizenship would be administered as it is now, that being seven years of continuous residency,” McDonald stated.
He is also proposing that there should be a period of 30 days during which time the holder of a work permit could apply for another job without having to pay another full work permit fee. “Immigrants who are subjected to inhumane working conditions and abuse are often times forced to remain in intolerable working conditions because they are poor and cannot opt out of the situation they are in.”
