They may come here homeless -Parsons on deportees

Former Minister of Education and Culture Eileen Parsons has expressed fear that a number of British Virgin Islands (BVI) natives may return home destitute and homeless if the United States fully implements the immigration policies touted by its president.

At different stages of his political sojourn, President Donald Trump vowed to – among other things – pursue mass deportation of illegal immigrants and roll back birthright citizenship.

While not specifying which of Trump’s many proposed immigration policies would worst affect BVI natives living in America, Parsons, during the government’s NDP Radio programme last evening, suggested that the BVI may end up receiving deportees.

According to her, a number of BVI citizens left the Territory umpteen years ago, and have not looked back.

Parsons wondered how they would be reintegrated into the society if they are thrown out of America possibly by President Trump’s proposed deportation force.

“We might have to find home for them to live in. The people who they would have left might have died out and they might become indigent on the community… It’s going to be a problem,” Parsons told members of the National Democratic Party (NDP) government, including Premier and Minister of Finance Dr D Orlando Smith.

Premier Smith, in response to Parsons, did not suggest any multi-pronged re-integration plan.

His response was mainly about employment for those who may end up being deported. “They will have to go through the same process as the rest of us in trying to get a job,” the premier.

Pressed further, he added, “If it becomes many people [sent back home] for example, the Labour Department and the Virgin Islands government will have to work together and make some policies about how we can get to place individuals. In fact, the Labour Department already does that and they can look at it more closely.”

In the meantime, one resident, who did not divulge his name, suggested that the government should consider measures to properly screen persons who may be deported from the United States.