00:00U.S. President Donald Trump has now focused his immigration policy on half a million Haitians
00:05living in the United States under temporary legal protection, even as CARICOM leaders consider the
00:12challenges related to long-delay elections in the French-speaking Caribbean nation.
00:18The wider CARICOM region is expected to be impacted by Washington's immigration policy,
00:24with CARICOM leaders noting at this summit that every country has a right to enforce
00:28its immigration laws. The leaders say, however, they are aware of the socio-economic situation
00:34that follows such a policy. They noted that Trump's move against undocumented immigrants
00:41comes even as Washington has also reduced funding for projects that have benefited the region.
00:48St. Kitts-Nevis Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Denzel Douglas, a former long-standing Prime
00:53Minister, says CARICOM is asking that proper protocols be followed. He's also suggesting
00:59dialogue with the Trump administration. As we would have done in the past, where names of
01:08prospective immigrants would be, or deputies, I should say, would be submitted to
01:16our missions in Washington and processed at Capitol, and then the appropriate action taken.
01:26And we believe we can achieve this because this is something that we've worked on in the past,
01:31and I believe that once we can dialogue on issues like this, then of course it would be
01:38better for all of us. But you've never dialogued with somebody like Trump?
01:42Well, we've dialogued with persons who have held the office before, and persons who have
01:49been Secretary of State. In fact, one of the immediate things that I think need to be done
01:56is for us as Caribbean leaders, Caribbean governments, to seek an early opportunity
02:05to speak with the administration at the highest level.
02:09Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Brown acknowledges the problem for the region.
02:14Well, that's nothing new. I'm told actually on the day about my administration that
02:18more Caribbeaners are actually deported than the list that we've seen recently under the
02:23Trump administration. I think we have an obligation to accept our citizens who are
02:27deported. At the end of the day, we cannot make them stateless. So at this point,
02:32based on the quantities that I've seen, I don't think it is extraordinary, and we just have to
02:37make sure that there's collaboration at the regional level to ensure that those involved
02:41in criminal activities, that they do not get the opportunity to travel freely within the
02:47CARICOM space and to create problems for us. Prime Minister of the Bahamas Philip Davis
02:52said that the Caribbean has to be careful not to get involved in any geopolitical issues
02:58that could affect the region negatively. Well, I know we just have to work with what
03:03we have. I mean, I've not seen any crack or even splinter or even a whimper of challenge yet,
03:11but we have to see how things evolve. I don't think we intend to get involved in any geopolitical
03:18issues. I think there are challenges not with us, but with other of the major powers in the world,
03:25and we continue to try to take an unaligned position, and we hope that we are not drawn
03:33into any of the spat that occurs as a result of the abuse on world views.
03:40Montserrat's Premier Ruben Mead, who has returned to Caribbean politics after a 10-year hiatus,
03:46said regional countries worry too much about the United States.
03:50He noted that there are other players in the world.
03:54We worry too much about the U.S. when, in fact, there are other players in the world.
03:59So if the U.S. is giving us problems, let's look elsewhere.
04:03Granted, they are the focal point for our tourism industry, but they're tourists that are available
04:10from other parts of the world, and therefore we have to now spread our wings, so to speak,
04:17and look to other markets, look to other regions for what we want.
04:21Trump has frozen funding and ordered a review of the operations of USAID, the U.S. aid agency.
04:28In 2023, that agency gave over $460 million in development assistance to the Caribbean.
04:36That amount was just under 1% of USAID's total dismissal for that year,
04:42and less than 0.1% of the total aid program of the U.S. government.
04:47Haiti was the primary beneficiary, receiving $390 million.
04:53Jamaica followed with $26 million, and Belize with $20 million.
04:58Beyond these, the United States' contribution to CARICOM has declined sharply,
05:03including to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, whose Prime Minister, Dr. Raoul Gonsalves,
05:08said the presence of the President of the European Commission,
05:11Ursula von der Leyen, at this year's summit is not coincidental.
05:16I'm quite sure that in the new complicated situation with the foreign policy of the United States,
05:28that in caucus there would be a discussion on that.
05:32Clearly, this morning, when I am the President of the European Commission,
05:42our dear friend Ursula came by, and she alluded to that very complication.
05:51And right-thinking persons may not unreasonably ask, if it were not for the kind of
06:03confusion, uncertainty, say, between the United States and Europe,
06:07whether or not the President of the European Commission would have been here.
06:14Of course, we have had people before, senior people from the European Commission.
06:18The leaders are expected to brief the media later on Friday on the outcome of their deliberations
06:24about elections in Haiti, the U.S. immigration policy, and other matters.
06:30Reporting for CCN TV6 from Barbados, I am Peter Richards.
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