Trump targets Antigua, Dominica

DONALD TRUMP on December 16 added two Caribbean nations to his list of “dangerous countries” that require full or partial entry restrictions.

What are the two nefarious countries deemed worthy of such limits? Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica. The reason for their new-found pariah status? Both “historically had citizenship by investment without residency.”

American activity in the Caribbean as it relates to Venezuela has rightly garnered attention. But these new restrictions show the true scope of the foreign policy pivots promulgated by Mr Trump.

The US is free to manage its borders as it pleases. Yet, the Trump administration has now added Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica to a list that includes Afghanistan, Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

Mr Trump’s earlier Proclamation 10949 also included on this “high-risk” list Haiti, as well as Cuba. It is difficult to see how citizenship by investment policies, on their own, merit punitive action. But it is even more difficult to see why these policies justify the grouping of Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica with these very different states.

In the past, Antigua has fallen afoul of US treasury officials over lax offshore banking regulations. But this year, the country introduced measures to tackle tax evasion and financial crime, including stricter know-your-customer rules and enhanced reporting requirements.

According to Gaston Browne, the Antiguan PM, the country had also been in talks with multiple US departments about strengthening citizenship by investment safeguards in recent months. Similarly, Roosevelt Skerrit said US officials had only recently supported Dominica’s moves to review citizenship legislation. Blindsided have been both by this week’s abrupt developments.

According to the US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, just 110 of the 1,445,549 non-citizens on its list of people in that country subject to removal were from Antigua and Barbuda as of November 2024. The figure for Dominica was even lower: 104. For the entire year 2024, the overstay rate for Antigua was 1.3 per cent or 217 out of 16,706 visitors; for Dominica it was 4.3 per cent or 316 out of 7,368 people, says the US Department of Homeland Security. Such paltry figures add to the puzzling nature of the clampdown.

Yet, a clue as to the true aim behind Mr Trump’s move might come from the text of his proclamation itself, which states, “the restrictions are country-specific in order to encourage cooperation.”

Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis and St Lucia also have histories of citizenship by investment, and perhaps the US president seeks to exert pressure to secure maritime lanes of major importance to his geopolitical manoeuvres. This could be about Venezuela, after all.

It’s certainly about the Republican Party leader and his warped worldview.