PHILIPSBURG: --- Former Minister of Justice and now Member of Parliament Lyndon Lewis called on the current Minister of Justice to share information on the root cause of the delays in processing immigration applications.
There have been people who submitted applications for renewal of residency permits and have been waiting for the past two years, and to date, these persons have not received an answer from the immigration department.
The Member of Parliament asked about his decisions and those of the applicants for humanitarian permits. He asked that full disclosure to be provided to the Parliament of St. Maarten.
Lewis said certain civil servants who were promoted to positions and were not performing are the ones who are undermining the process of these applications.
Lewis said that what is done to immigrants who are waiting on an answer on their immigration application is criminal and also criminal to the government because immigration also provides a lucrative business where the ministry could raise much-needed funds.
The former Minister said that justice workers need the money owed to them, and the Ministry could raise the much-needed funds through the Department of Immigration.
He further called on the government to secure a loan from the Dutch Government to pay off the justice workers. He said these workers were given a date on which they would have been paid, and to date, they have not been paid.
