The government of the Virgin Islands has spent approximately $500,000 in the year 2021 so far to expatriate illegal immigrants back to their countries of origin.
This according to Minister of Labour and Immigration Vincent Wheatley, who made the disclosure during a press conference on Friday November 26.
The minister said that the issue of illegal immigrants entering the BVI continues to increase with more persons being detected than previously.
He said it is an issue that is not only affecting the BVI, but also a number of our regional counterparts.
“The issue of migration is a serious problem. I’ve seen it in the news a few days ago, where 27 persons drowned trying to cross from France over to the UK. Just like between Europe and the UK the borders are very very porous. It is incredibly difficult to patrol our waters here between the BVI from any outside country, whether it be St. Martin or St Kitts or our neighbours, a very challenging thing to do,” Minister Wheatley stated.
He added, “One of the things that we have to do, because for this year so far we’ve spent around half a million dollars just repatriating these persons. They found some of the detainees but since that they found 15 more illegal immigrants again about two days ago. This is a very serious issue that we have to act on.”
To establish a detention centre
Wheatley also revealed that his government will be aiming to establish a detention centre for all illegal immigrants caught in the territory.
This follow at least two separate occasions where it was reported that illegal immigrants from Haiti had escaped custody in a local temporary detention centre.
The minister said two of those persons who escaped were later rushed to the Dr. Dr Orlando Smith Hospital to undergo medical attention after breaking their bones to escape custody.
He said, “One of the things we hope to do out of the budget is to build a detention centre, because once you have illegal immigrants there’s no place to put them, we are forced to use hotels and private security. It is incredibly expensive and God forbid if they end up in court or in medical help…In fact, two of the persons who were found, ended up in hospital because in trying to escape they had their legs broken and so forth. That is an additional expense on the country!”
In the meantime, Premier Andrew Fahie said the subject of illegal immigration remains a hot topic among the United Kingdom and other Overseas Territories.
He said it was discussed at the recently held Joint Ministerial Council meeting in the United Kingdom which showed that other Overseas Territories are also significantly being impacted by these instances.
The Premier said to further protect the BVI’s borders, he is presently lobbying to have a local Coast Guard established to deter future perpetrators.