St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN)—Antigua Barbados Prime Minister Gaston Brown has updated the nation on key discussions coming out of the just concluded 50th CARICOM Heads of Government meeting held here in St. Kitts and Nevis.
A major highlight of the regional summit was a high-level meeting between CARICOM leaders and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
During that engagement, leaders raised several concerns affecting their respective countries, among them the ongoing visa issues impacting several territories.
“I’d say it was a very consequential meeting, and we were very happy that the distinguished Secretary of State Marco Rubio would have taken the opportunity to meet with us once again. This would have been the second time within the last year that Secretary of State Rubio would have met with CARICOM Heads and the fact that he flew overnight having participated in the State of the Union address and he flew overnight to the Caribbean to be with us the following day, it showed a significant amount of commitment to ensuring that there’s engagement between the United States and CARICOM.
“In fact, I believe that he’s the first Secretary of State who would have shown that level of commitment, that level of engagement with CARICOM Heads, and we certainly welcome that because over the years, over the decades, the United States would have treated the CARICOM region and CARICOM countries with benign neglect. I presume that, after the Cold War, the strategic importance of the Caribbean would have diminished significantly, and engagements would have been extremely sparse. So it is certainly to the credit of Secretary of State Rubio that he would have engaged with us.”
Prime Minister Brown, along with fellow regional heads, met with Secretary Rubio behind closed doors for more than an hour. He described the discussions as inspiring.
“But what was most important at the time, the message that he delivered was well received. You know, some of us had some anxiety that perhaps there could have been some muscular rhetoric. He didn’t come there to lecture us. In fact, he delivered what I consider to be an inspiring address, in the sense that he indicated that the objective of the United States now is to reinvigorate the relationship between the U.S. and CARICOM, and that was certainly welcome. They want to see a prosperous CARICOM region and, of course, ensure that there is stability within the region to make sure that we are safe and secure.
“And we certainly welcome the remarks that he made during the plenary. We’d have had an opportunity as well during the private engagement with the heads to drill down on a number of issues, including the restrictions, the visa restrictions, and a number of hemispheric issues. So I’d say that it was a very consequential meeting and certainly very good discussions as we seek to strengthen the relationship with the United States, both the bilateral as well as the multilateral relationship between CARICOM and the United States. And we’re hoping that at the end of the day that this will result in some compact for development between the United States and CARICOM.”
Addressing specific matters of visa restrictions affecting Antigua and Barbuda, Prime Minister Brown told the Antigua-Barbuda Broadcasting Service that he raised the issue directly with the U.S. Secretary of State.
According to Brown, the restrictions are considered temporary, and new policy adjustments are expected to be implemented shortly.
“Prime Minister, in relation to the discussions with Marco, we mentioned the U.S. visa restrictions. There are, of course, restrictions on Antigua, Barbuda and Dominica in relation to new applications for non-immigrant visas. And there are restrictions on most CARICOM countries and among 75 others in relation to immigrant visas or green cards. Did you get a sense that the U.S. is minded to ease those restrictions?”
“I had the distinction of putting that question directly to Secretary of State Rubio, and his response to me in the presence of all of my other colleague heads was that these restrictions are temporary. What they’re seeking now is to have a new visa policy, which they hope to have completed, let’s say, hopefully by the end of the proclamation, which ends in June, and by then they’ll roll out a new visa policy, which evidently will affect all of us, whatever those adjustments may be. So he said that we ought not to take it as an attack on Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica.
“He said, “Look, it’s a global rollout of a new visa policy.” Evidently, they’ve had to use some countries as examples. It’s unfortunate that Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica ended up as two of the countries within CARICOM, but at the end of the day, there will be changes that will affect the entire CARICOM region. In essence, it’s about containing illegal immigration, and the United States has become wary of our citizens literally overstaying and at the same time accessing their services. So that in itself they think is unacceptable, and they’re trying to put a new framework in place so that they can curb the amount of illegal immigrants that end up in the United States. What seems to have happened some of them they find ways to exploit the social services. Maybe some of them, even I, understand, will get married and you know eventually become citizens, because some people argue that look, if you’re just an immigrant, you’re not a citizen, that you’re not eligible.
“But again, some of them become citizens through marriage, still not making constructive contributions and utilising social services. So it’s a loophole that they’re trying to plug, and you know, from the standpoint, it’s just strictly about protecting their borders and at the same time to ensure that there’s not a drag on the social services. We understand that and we made a point to that look the smaller countries within CARICOM in particular OASIS countries that have populations under 200,000 you know those who overstay and we understand that look first of all no one has a right to a visa. It’s really a privilege that is extended, and at the same time, the United States has an obligation to protect its borders. But we pointed out to them that with such small populations I mean if we have a thousand people or let’s say 10,000 people for that matter travelling to the United States and one per cent decides that you know they’re not returning the overstaying that’s what about 100 people.
“So we said to them, in the context of a population of nearly 400 million people in the United States, that’s almost inconsequential, and as I recall, the percentage within the OASIS region of people who overstay is about 1.3 per cent, 1.4 per cent. So our populations are too small for any overstay to be consequential to the United States but at the same time I imagine they’re looking at the principle in a global way and based on the whole ethos of having a change to the immigration policy and to better protect their borders they have not made any exemptions insofar as the application of the new rules when they are actually completed.
“So I think what is sensible for us to do I mean you know it’s a little inconvenient of course to have those visa restrictions but it’s for us to understand what they’re doing and not to become agitated over it and to become hostile but just allow them you know the changes that they are making to take the course and for us to remain constructive and calm and at the same time recognising that there’s likely to be a change and that those restrictions will come to an end.” – Prime Minister Gaston Brown speaking with ABS’s Garfield Burford.
