PHILIPSBURG:--- During the Council of Ministers weekly press briefing on Wednesday, Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams was asked to give explanations about the recent activities and concerns raised by Member of Parliament George Pantophlet regarding persons residing in the United States. Wescot Williams said that MP Pantophlet sent her a letter with a number of questions regarding the issue and she is yet to respond. She said she already asked the personnel of the Civil Registry to provide her with information so that she could respond to the Member of Parliament.
However, Wescot Williams said she is aware that the Civil Registry is busy cleaning up in order to have accurate figures as to the amount of people living on the island. She said that whatever the Civil Registry is doing is in accordance with the laws and policies in place. Wescot Williams made clear that no particular group of people is being targeted but she gave an example where she said that some persons are asked to verify their documents that are in the files at the civil registry when they ask for their passports to be extended. As for the request for new birth certificates when naturalized Dutch citizens need their passports extended, the Prime Minister said that too has to do with what is in the person's file.
