Keep out the “Parasites” warns Astwood in Status Bill debate

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, June 12, 2023 – Like animals in the wild, the Turks and Caicos must make sure that symbiotic relationships with expats are mutually beneficial, not draining the country of its resources.  That was the message from Edwin Astwood, Opposition leader as he enthusiastically supported amendments to the TCI Islander Status Bill proposed by Premier Washington Misick.

The amendments, introduced on May 31st in the House of Assembly, will legalize a points system that requires proof of extraordinary talent and contribution to the TCI for status.  It is in an effort, Premier Misick said, to make the process more transparent and fair.

“There’s a reason countries try to hold on to talent as much as they can and the points system will allow us to do that– instead of someone who has the means to live here for 15 years getting citizenship but they don’t care about the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands,” Astwood said in agreement.

He delved into the science of symbiosis applying it to the TCI context:

Mutualism – where both groups benefit from each other’s presence which is what Astwood maintains is the ultimate goal,

Commensalism – ‘where one gets everything from the country and the country gets nothing in return but is not harmed in the process’

Parasitism –  ‘ the relationship where the host is harmed and the parasite benefits,’

“That is saying that the country and our people will be harmed by your presence but all you are doing is benefiting,” Astwood said.  This type of relationship was one the opposition leader maintained he was quite wary of and hopeful that the new amendments to the law would fix.

Mimicry –  ‘You sound like us, you look like us– you’re exploiting the benefits of appearing to be a Turks and Caicos Islander,” he said.

Amensalism – Where one species is killed in the process, “You can have persons living among you that are detrimental to our survival as a country,” Astwood warned.

“We can take these biological points of view and put it into human concepts and see that we do need this points system– so that we can determine who we want to live amongst us and what kind of symbiotic relationship we want with those individuals,” he maintained.

The PDM Party Leader also expressed support for the proposed quota system to which will set a specific number of applications to be approved per year which could help to monitor the population across islands.

A similar system both using points and quotas for specific areas is employed by some of the most heavily immigration-subscribed nations including Canada, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and others.