PM Browne Says Antigua Already Achieves Free Movement Without Joining CARICOM Pact
Prime Minister Gaston Browne says Antigua and Barbuda will not immediately join the new CARICOM agreement on full free movement, arguing that the country already exemplifies the policy through its long-standing openness to regional migration.
Speaking on the Browne and Browne Show on Pointe FM, Browne said Antigua and Barbuda has facilitated the movement of Caribbean nationals “for decades,” often granting amnesties to regularize their status. He stated that “Antigua and Barbuda has had free movement for decades. We’re not part of this formal agreement, and deliberately so.”
The Prime Minister described Antigua as the “gold standard” for free movement in the region, citing studies showing that more than half of intra-CARICOM migration over the past decade has been toward Antigua. “Most of the movement that has taken place within CARICOM is Antigua to come to now — not St. Vincent, not Belize, not Barbados — Antigua,” Browne said.
Browne said the informal system currently in place allows CARICOM nationals to settle, work, and integrate freely into Antiguan society. “They come, they settle, they work. Nobody interferes with them,” he said, adding that every four to five years, thousands are granted legal status through national amnesties.
He added that nearly half of Antigua and Barbuda’s population consists of CARICOM nationals or their descendants, noting that “Free movement has been happening here for decades. We are the standard bearers of free movement in the Caribbean.”
While reaffirming his support for regional unity, Browne cautioned against formal accession to the agreement without safeguards to manage inflows. “If already, without any free movement, we’re getting all this movement coming to our country, and then you go and give people legitimate rights… it creates some social problems,” he said.
He explained that Antigua supports managed migration and has asked CARICOM partners for a derogation to maintain control over the rate of arrivals. “We need a derogation so we can manage our situation. We have the largest Caribbean diaspora per capita, and we must be able to manage that responsibly.”
Browne stressed that Antigua and Barbuda remains committed to the spirit of free movement and may join the formal agreement in the future. “At some point, we will join,” he said. “But for now, not being part of the regime gives us the opportunity to manage it.”
He added that the country’s consistent openness and track record of regularizing migrants demonstrate a deeper regional commitment than any formal declaration. “No other country — not Barbados, not Belize, not Dominica, not St. Vincent — Antigua and Barbuda is the standard bearer for free movement,” Browne said.
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With all due respect Hon Prime Minister, what Dominica, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Belize are proporting to offer is not what we have been doing in Antigua and Barbuda all along. Yes Antigua & Barbuda have been more welcoming and open to our Caricom brothers and sisters than most other Caricom countries but some Caricom visitors to Antigua and Barbuda are almost always subjected to much restrictions, constraints and control which our immigration department enforces to the ‘T”. Ask any Jamaican and Guyanese visitor about the annoyance, harassment and “benching” that they were subjected to when visiting Antigua and Barbuda. To suggest that what we have been offering is the same is a little bit disingenuous.
@Audley Phillip
You may call it harassment but every country is enforcing their immigration laws and it’s about time Antigua and Barbuda does the same. Antigua has always been welcoming to the other islands and where did it get us? I totally agree with the prime minister on this one, no other country in CARICOM can go to Barbados and work yet we have them working here. Only the big island benefits from CARICOM.
All due respect @AudleyPhillip places like Barbadod and St Vincent still have a population that is largely native born. They are not subjected to the erosion of their traditional culture, values and norms. You can’t even get a job in the public sector in Barbados if you are not Bajan. Many Antiguans have married Bajans and could not get hired because they had Antiguan passports. So whatever they are proposing, Antigua does not need to be apart of it..little more than that, the island will disappear.. if they wanted to, they could easily take over the country politically, after all Antiguans are in the minority in Antigua and that isn’t even the worst thing. Many of the managerial jobs in the public sector and in the tourist industry are held by foreigners. It wasn’t so under VC. There was a time at many of the hotels the managerial.jobs were held mostly by Antiguans, not so today. It’s very dangerous for future generations if we continue like this. There will be no legacy to leave our children. And by the way these ppl don’t like Antiguans, or our leaders. They are only here for the money. Look how Motley and Gonsalves failed to stand with Antigua
with the LIAT issue. Yes LIAT has had its issues but its the principle behind it. For the self interest of Barbados Motley did not care if hundreds of Antiguans lost their jobs and look who stood with her- Gonsalves, when Antigua had nearly all of St Vincent in our police force. It’s time to wise up and wake up Antigua!
Three cheers HIP HIP HORAY.
Too much a dem dun yah already, Gaston just say almost half de population foreign soon fram now we will be the minority ah dat are u want stupid set of people
Maybe he is not ready for regulated free movement. These are the people who make him feel emboldened to perform in the manner that he does. He never flinched at reminding us that we are actually a minority in our own home. Just observe the land distribution process. There is a large number of nationals who is still getting the runaround to purchase government lands, while some expatriates are able to aquire enough to resell and/or build properties to rent. Many times, they are the final persons in the hierarchy to make a determination to our applications for anything that is rightly ours.
@Belle you’re acting like immigrants put themself in those positions. You’re pointing the finger at the people who working what about who hired them? People can’t move to a country without having a job and housing line up like the national housing workers are underpaid according to the PM himself so instead of $120 per day they get $80 because they want cheap labour and if they like the work they get or not getting enough people they bring in workers because they have a “shortage of workers” in this case they bring in workers from DR.
Policies like that are what causes an erodes of your children’s future is when a employer look elsewhere for cheaper labour for their benefits leaving the local population to suffer so the elites can make more money.
If your really care about our future you should keep the same energy for all the people buying up the beaches and blocking off access and want to claim the sands and water for themself. The people that buying and selling our beaches for more and more hotels, every years is nothing except hotel project “to bring more jobs” y’all ever think about what’s next after all our beaches are fill with hotels? Or look at counties had have already did that and sold out to tourism. In fact a lot of those people that build hotels get property as a discount and new hotels has tax exemptions for 20 years.
Blame the people green lighting and buying subsidized homes for the purpose of air b&b land and homes which can house people who don’t own homes or adults who want to move out from their parents, those houses don’t even have the same advertisings power of creating X jobs because the whole point of air b&b is people do things themself so they wouldn’t even hire cleaners at mass hotels and say to make you feel better, join the owner gets all the profits for themself.
For the “traditional culture” the Caribbean people always had and share the same culture since we are the same people from Africa for the most you can only make that culture difference for people outside the Caribbean but I don’t hear anyone say that about white people when their country have full free movement to Antigua when you can’t even do the same to them and we are losing access to ones that did allow us, its only the people that look, eat the food, talk the same, make the same money and drive the same roads as you, in a country you have so many complaints about. If you so believe you’re the minority just join the “foreigners” that have the same political identity as you so you get gain numbers. They are here a lot of times from the leaders they don’t like may have brought them and support them, they might be more die hard to the party you support.
What truly kills a country is our reliance of tourism we put all our money into service tourists and not even give have of that to the residents look at your service industries and little public infrastructure only now we got loans for roads when then hinting early elections to try hide all the years they let it degrade especially in areas they lost, they don’t support healthcare with clinics closing down and outdated looking like they stuck in 90s or 2000, post office basically non existence just to give you APUA bills, government I.T jobs are normally just outsource to India.
So what is Antigua future? They want to do the same with Barbuda as well kicking people out of their homes calling them swatters to turn their parks homes and beaches to golf courses, VIP airport terminals and hotels. Tell me how can you blame issue like that on immigration when real thing that is killing our future is from the top, and to make things worst they are openly embracing A.I to replace workers instead of helping us.
The ALP and now ABLP will always treat outsiders better than local born that’s how they stay in power. We already have free movement so Gaston doesn’t see it makes sense to change what is already working for him. The question is when Antiguans wake up to this reality it will be much too late. Remember the saying “too late, too late shall be the cry”
PRIME MINISTER IS RIGHT WITH THIS DECISION! I must say! I stand with you Mr.PM