As turmoil and gang rule continue to roil the island nation of Haiti, desperate refugees are fleeing in droves. And many are coming here to Belize - a CARICOM nation for which they require no visa. The attraction is that Belize is on the American mainland and is seen as a corridor to the US - through the backdoor.
The flood of desperate refugees is a regional crisis - and the Department of Immigration - keen to stop human smuggling - has been resisting them entering the country - and using various tactics to stem the flow.
Today, the UDP Leader said he believes that approach is wrong and that they should be afforded the same courtesies extended to any CARICOM national:
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"I don't believe that any person that comes to Belize legitimately and certainly Haitians are members of the Caricom nations and so they have all rights to come to Belize under our immigration laws, so I don't believe that regardless of the trend, regardless of the suspicion nefarious activity, I believe that we have to respect our laws when it comes to Caricom nationals and so if those laws are being violated in regards to the Haitians I strongly object to that. If there is intelligence that the immigration and the national security ministries have, I believe that has to be on a case by case issue. It can't be that every Haitian that comes to Belize will be treated as a suspect. We can't have any type of profiling, any type of country profiling, but I understand that immigration and the national security forces have a job to do to protect against human trafficking and the sort. So it's a thin line, but certainly Haitians have more rights than other foreign nationals that come here that are not a part of Caricom and those rights need to be respected."
