PHILIPSBURG--Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Minister Grisha Heyliger-Marten has called for urgent reconsideration of Princess Juliana International Airport’s (PJIA’s) stance requiring “valid legal working status” for access cards, warning that the policy risks undermining generations of cross-border unity.
Heyliger-Marten, who serves as shareholder representative of the airport, issued a statement Tuesday acknowledging the authority of Public Health, Social Development and Labor VSA Minister Richinel Brug in such matters, but insisted the decision “requires an urgent review.”
“I cannot stand behind anything that tears our people apart,” she said. “Our families, our businesses, and the airport ecosystem itself have been built through cross-border cooperation. That spirit will continue to guide us. We are one people, and both our laws and policies should reflect that shared reality.”
She emphasised that for more than a century, Dutch St. Maarten and French Saint-Martin have functioned as one community socially, culturally, and economically, with families and businesses straddling the border. “A decision that has the potential to tear that apart must be considered with the utmost care, compassion and long-term thinking,” she stressed.
Heyliger-Marten acknowledged that while the current legal framework may be technically correct, it does not reflect the “lived reality” of residents on both sides of the island. She urged her colleague Brug to modernise labour legislation so that it mirrors the everyday experience of unity across the border.
“Our nation is its people. The laws must be for the people. We have the chance to make our laws and policies reflect who we are: one island, one people, one future,” she concluded.
