TCI will not cut ties with Haiti, Minister explains why 

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

For the benefit of The Turks and Caicos people the country will not end its diplomatic relationship with Haiti.  The decisive statement came from Arlington Musgrove, Minister of Immigration and Border Services in a press conference under the theme: ‘Breaking the Chains of Human Smuggling’; it was held on Thursday February 9^th at the Office of the Premier.

Musgrove said while he understood the fears of his people this would be a “Knee-jerk reaction that could cost us out country in the long run.”

It follows the very public recommendation by PNP appointed member, Jameka Williams in a recent meeting of the House of Assembly that the country ‘cut ties’ with the neighboring island until they had their political situation under control.

Others in Turks and Caicos have lamented similarly as waves of migrants flee the embattled state, north of the Turks and Caicos.

Musgrove, however, aimed to put an end to the discourse which had gained traction on social media, offering one particular reason why it would be to the detriment of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“We are in a very precarious position in that we depend [on] diplomatic relationships with the TCI and Haiti in order to repatriate illegal migrants,” he explained.

“Should we break these ties we would be forced to keep all migrants that we [catch] on the boats here in the TCI.  That means every boat, every interception.”  He said, explaining that if that happened the TCI’s population would have grown five percent in the current financial year alone with the addition of 2,355 migrants caught over the period.

Describing this as unsustainable, he maintains that the country could not afford to lose this link which afforded them the ability to repatriate illegal migrants.

“It is better for us to continue to tackle it by improving interception, dismantling the organized human smuggling and eliminating the pull factor of illegal employment,” he maintained.