Philipsburg:---The Minister of Justice who was in St Maarten for a one day working visit on Friday paid a visit to the registration of Haitian nationals at the conference room of the Salvation Army in Cole Bay. The Minister met with her advisors and the Project Team Members who explained the development of the first week of registration. The Minister of Justice Magali Jacoba, sat with some Haitian immigrants who had some personal unique problems and permission was given to them to stay till further down this year.Over 500 Haitians registered so far and the Minister of Justice is asking all Haitian nationals who are undocumented on the Dutch side of Sint Maarten, to please go and register. This will be the last week that the registration will be open. After March 31st there will be no more opportunities to register. All Haitians who do not have legal status and did not register at the Salvation Army conference room, are in violation of the immigration laws and will be deported back to Haiti.
The Minister of Justice explained on a particular case that a Haitian person whose documents were approved in the BTA, came to the Police Station to pick up the permit with false documents. The Immigration Department arrested this person for having fraudulent documents in their possession. There is no way that we will arrest anybody from any nation when they come to pick up their BTA papers. But if they use false documentation, this means they broke the law and they will be arrested pending to be deported to their country of origin.
The Minister of Justice is hoping that many Haitians will use this unique opportunity to come and register so they will avoid any deportation.
