MP Charles: Review migrant policy, lock down borders

NAPARIMA MP Rodney Charles has the solution to TT's Venezuelan illegal migrant crisis: effectively and completely lock down the country's borders.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, he said: “Once our borders are locked down, people will not leave Venezuela, they would not risk it because they know they are going to be stopped. A UNC government would have handled this thing scientifically. It would have been data driven. It would be fact based and tied in to our absorptive capacity.” 

He called on Government to seek regional and global support for a well thought out migrant/refugee policy – one that is humane, consensually developed, recognises international treaty obligations, TT’s absorptive capacity and national security concerns. 

In the absence of such a policy, he said at the Opposition Leader's office in Port of Spain, government's actions appear incoherent, reactive, not co-ordinated, ad hoc and lacking guiding principles that are defensible, diligently pursued and which serve TT’s interests.

He also called for Government to re-frame TT’s stated foreign policy mandate of non-interference in Venezuela’s internal affairs and adopt a policy of TT being an honest broker bringing contending forces together for the sole purpose of convening early, internationally supervised elections in that country.

He said handling of the Venezuelan situation requires a comprehensive review, overhaul and rethink. “If you look at our policies, it is tied to what we feel are the inherent interests of our country. For example, the first one was a refugee policy. The refugee policy should look at our absorptive capacity. How many people can we take in this country? Can we take 16,000, 20,000, 30,000?”

“How is our interest improved if we have children of these migrants who are born here, who are citizens (but) who are not getting education. We are creating a ghetto and that cannot redound to the benefit of our country."

He said one day TT might wake up and realise it does not have a country. “We have lost TT. We will wake up one day and realise we have three parties: an Afro-based party, an Indo-based party and a Latin party,” he said. 

Charles said sooner or later TT's welcoming mat would be pulled away – and it has started to happen – as locals are seeing Venezuelans as competitors for already scarce jobs. He said the Prime Minister was not living up to the requirements of a 21st century first world leader. 

Charles said he agrees with the Caribbean Centre for Human Rights suggestion that Caricom neighbours assist TT with the influx of Venezuelan migrants. 

He said Barbados PM Mia Mottley was ten times ahead, in the global village, as opposed to Dr Rowley in terms of respect. Saying that Rowley is no diplomat, Charles said the PM should have led a Caricom response to the Venezuelan migrant crisis and that discussions should have been held on the question of sharing migrant burden across Caricom nations.