And in the last part of our conversation with Immigration C.E.O. Gilroy Middleton, we asked about the rationale for the strange migration patterns that Haitians, and even Jamaicans have been exhibiting through Belize in recent months.
Thousands have arrived into Belize by air - as CARICOM nationals - no visa required - but only a few hundred have left though the airport. The others have absconded to parts unknown - believed to be part of human smuggling operations heading north.
And that's why Cabinet decided last week to invoke Article 226 (a) of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, which will impose a visa requirement for Haitians wishing to visit Belize, and to require Jamaican nationals to provide evidence of fully paid non-refundable hotel reservations prior to boarding flights to Belize.
But what is driving this human smuggling through Belize? C.E.O. Middleton let us in on one soon-to-be altered U.S. policy that many may want to get in on before it's too late.
Gilroy Middleton, Chief Executive Officer, Immigration
"One point to note that a lot of people are not familiar with, the U.S. plans to remove a policy which states that to apply for refugee status in the U.S. you have to be out of the country so that is why there are a lot of people at the northern border they submit their application, they are living in tents they are living in a camp when their number is called then they can go in. So, in theory, what that note is that you can go into the U.S. and then you apply for that refugee status. So, that may be a reason that we have this mass migration of people moving through."
Notably, since last year, a number of Belizean citizens are also said to be flocking to the southern US border in the hopes of asylum.
