Illegal Immigration COVID-19 Update
Jamell Robinson
On Thursday April 1st Governor Nigel Dakin reported that an illegal vessel loaded with an estimated 300 plus immigrants was intercepted and forced to return to the mainland of Hispaniola.
In the early morning hours of April 3rd brave officers from the TCI Marine Branch intercepted another sloop in TCI territorial waters, the vessel was taken in tow and 154 illegal migrants on board were processed at South Dock and later detained at the Gustavus Lightbourne Complex. Despite these efforts, at daybreak on that same day residents in Blue Hills reported seeing scores of unidentified person traversing bushy areas near their homes. Authorities later confirmed a sloop landing in the area and estimate that another 150 illegal migrants may have breached the border and dispersed into the local community.
As a former public servant and as a good citizen of the TCI, I commend the hard working officers of the RTCIF, Immigration Department and other law enforcement agencies. There work is hard but necessary. Officers, you are doing and continue to do your country a great service in these uncertain times.
Despite these developments, information confirming sloop arrival was slow to come from official sources. In a time where circulating false information is a criminal offense, timely updates will ensure that the public is not left to speculate on what we already generally know.
Any sloops making landfall at this time is extremely dangerous and simply unacceptable. Coronavirus is the number one concern in the world today. We simply have no clue of the infection rate of a nation with over 11 million people. While we closely monitor their officially reported numbers, we accept that their testing capability is as poor as ours, or even worse.
The Haitian Government closed its borders to fight Covid19 even before we closed ours, yet they sit idly by while sloops are launched from their northern coast.
The UK’s placement of a cutter in the passage has failed to provide an impenetrable barrier to the elusive sloops and in my view we have reached a point where we must increase the pressure.
I hold the view that the UK must put Diplomatic pressure on the Haitian Government to stop these sloops! The TCI is now faced with the prospect of running a deficit budget. This means that government spending over the next 12 months is expected to outpace Government Revenue.
The already high cost of repatriation alone has the potential to jack the level of deficit run by TCIG up if not checked and checked now. The cost of action may be high but the cost of inaction will be astronomical on TCIG funds at a time when we cannot generate revenue.
The UK’s sea defense assets are only effective if illegal migrants know that there will be no letting up. This cannot be a here today gone tomorrow arrangement. I suggest that the proper assets are mobilized to stem the spread of COVID19 even if it means positioning a warship between the TCI and Haiti for at least 3 months or until we and the world have a grip on COVID-19. All anti-drug trafficking operations should become secondary to this Health Pandemic.
To date it seems that no other Overseas Territory has the issue of illegal immigration via sloop like the TCI. None!
We must mobilize every law enforcement personnel available to be deployed. The maintenance of the curfew means that the RTCIPF is already stretched too thin by having to police actively for the 24 hour curfew.
We have a golden opportunity to right this ship once and for all but our leaders must be prepared to make bold decisions to put this baby to bed!!
Jamell Robinson, PNP All Island Candidate
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