Philipsburg: --- Minister of Constitutional and Home Affairs Roland Duncan said the Dutch politicians are paranoid when it comes to St. Maarten and Curacao. The Minister was reacting to the motion presented in the second chamber regarding the Brooks Tower Accord. Duncan said he is disappointed in the Dutch but with this recent action it shows the Dutch are not as smart as they think they are.The Minister said this is St. Maarten's autonomy and it is the right of the island to deal with the illegal immigrants they way they chose. He said Holland has its own immigration problems and St. Maarten and Curacao does not tell them how to deal with it. He made clear that the Brooks Tower falls under the Netherlands Antilles and the motion that was presented in the second chamber cannot affect the process.
The Minister said one of the concerns of the Dutch is that a great deal of people would suddenly become Dutch with the Brooks Tower Accord. He said this is a clear case of paranoia because there are stringent laws in place that has to be respected before someone can become Dutch citizen.
The Minister also made clear that those that qualify and passes the exams to become a Dutch citizen also has the right to there status based on the laws written by the second chamber. Duncan said he wants to know if the second chamber is now trying to over write its own laws.
Duncan said Holland believes it is very attractive to people. He said the French side of the island has far more and far better social benefits as well as a higher minimum wage in place and it has not attracted millions of Caribbean people.
He said even the statistics presented in the motion was incorrect and it is clear that the Dutch did not do any research on the Brooks Tower Accord which is only granting applicants a one year permit. Duncan said the figures were exaggerated something he already told to the Minister of Justice Magali Jacoba. In this motion they said St. Maarten has 50,000 illegal immigrants and Curacao has 40,000, while he does not have the figure the Minister said there might be a third of that figure on island. The Minister said so far there might be about 5,000 people who registered for the BTA permit. He said where the other 45,000 hiding is because the economy does not reflect any of this.
Asked if he is satisfied with the BTA process that is currently being implemented Duncan said he could not make an assessment just yet. However, he admitted that he would have had a different approach had he been dealing with it. Duncan said the requirements they are asking is too much. He said if someone has been surviving on St. Maarten for the past 10, 12, or 20 years without having a fix job or no job at all is not enough to deny them legal residency. The Minister said what if these persons are living with a live-in companion and has children to care for and they are cared for by their companion? He asked what and how they are dealing with situations where people have multiple jobs and are surviving on the islands. Furthermore, he said if the applicants are living here for more than ten years and has not gotten into to trouble with the law then he would have not made the process that difficult for them to legalize their status. He made clear immigration is not a justice matter and the Netherlands Antilles has been trying to make it one for years now. He said there are people who clean houses for two days a week for four different families per week, which means they have four employers, but the law he said does not cater to that kind of scenario.
