Dear Editor,
As far I know, none of the political parties has any idea on how to deal with immigration.
In fact, in the last 7 years, it seems to get worse with no clear solution on that matter. As we know from the past, all parties support the 3 grace period that was created by law a few years ago. This is the liberal social democrat ideology on immigration. They believe in rewarding illegal immigration, hoping that those lawbreakers would become good citizens.
Liberals or social democrats believe that undocumented immigrants have a right to all educational and health benefits that citizens receive, including financial aid, and welfare regardless of legal status. Liberals believe in raising taxes to pay this expense off the back of St. Maarten people. In St. Maarten, as I explained, none of the political parties is conservative.
A conservative believes in always protecting his country first, in this case, St. Maarten first. A conservative believes in strong border control and supports legal immigration only. Conservatives oppose grace periods for those who enter St. Maarten illegally (illegal immigrants). Those who break the law by entering St. Maarten illegally, do not have the same rights as those who obey the law and enter legally. The borders should be secured before addressing the problem of the illegal immigrants currently in the St. Maarten.
I personally believe immigration should be separated from the police, because it provides clarity and better control to avoid corruption. The electorate of St. Maarten (voters) must make it their business to ask what plan does each political party have to solve the immigration challenges, and can St. Maarten government really afford to handle this matter?
Immigration is an expensive portfolio and it is not only stamping a passport at a port of entry. It is supposed to gather intelligence on security matters for the national security of St. Maarten, and have a plan to extract illegal immigrants rapidly while maintaining the security. Illegal immigration puts a financial burden on St. Maarten and has also become a major concern to our national security. St. Maarten is multicultural and we do not have enough information of who can be involved in the drug cartel and terrorism, not forgetting all other criminal elements.
Another important example of immigration control is that we do not have information on people we do not know, or are any of those illegal immigrants infected with a contagious disease, which our healthcare system is not able to deal with. Immigration goes hand-in- hand with national security.
The political ideology on immigration matters for the voters of St. Maarten is a lose-lose situation, because we do not have any conservative party.
So, ask all the political liberal parties of St. Maarten what their solution is to rectify the immigration challenges. Stay tuned for the next subject on political ideology of conservative versus liberal.
The Patriot Miguel Arrindell
