The Senate passes the Citizenship Reform Bill with a slim majority, after government rubbishes a warning from an Opposition Senator that it could allow for a clandestine member of a Venezuelan terrorist group to claim lineage to Trinidad and Tobago.
00:00The Honorable Prime Minister correctly stated that it is possible to find a trinity in every country.
00:09I agree with the Honorable Prime Minister.
00:12And one of those countries in which there are many grandparents and grandchildren connected to Trantobago is Venezuela.
00:20Senator Vishnu Danpal during the Senate's late night debate of a proposed amendment to the Constitution to allow for the citizenship of those born outside of Trinidad and Tobago
00:32if their grandparents are or were citizens of Trinidad and Tobago at the date of birth of those persons.
00:39The debate occurred at the time of warnings by the government of Venezuela regarding the government of Trinidad and Tobago's support for the U.S. deployment of military elements in the region
00:49in what the U.S. says is its war on drug cartels.
00:54Mr. President, let it be known that I've never given the Honorable Prime Minister bad advice.
01:00Mr. President, hypothetically speaking, in this scenario it will not be difficult for a Venezuelan terrorist group
01:13to recruit a grandchild as a clandestine member of their group to gain citizenship and a Trinidad and Tobago passport
01:26and gain legal access to this country.
01:31Senator Danpal said that is something the population needs to know.
01:34It is very much not far-fetched because now these new shady citizens can disappear and blend into the population
01:47and create a security nightmare within their sleeper cells.
01:54It's not a far-fetched idea at all.
01:56Minister in the Ministry of Housing, Philip Alexander, later offered a direct response on behalf of the UNC-led government.
02:03Senator Danpal spoke about Venezuelans using this bill to create sleeper cells to detonate themselves.
02:15But I just wanted to ask, under the last administration, their government,
02:21tens of thousands of Venezuelans were legitimately allowed into this country
02:25and they could be detonating themselves every day.
02:28What's to stop them? They don't need this bill. They're here already.
02:30There was then an apparent reference to the registration of some Venezuelans
02:35during the former PNM administration, during which Senator Danpal briefly served as finance minister.
02:41They're here already.
02:43No vetting.
02:44And there was no vetting.
02:46They were here, they came in, however they got in, and they gave them ID cards.
02:51What is to stop them detonating themselves?
02:54This was not a correct objection.
03:00In the end, the six opposition senators and seven independent senators voted against the bill.
03:06One independent senator abstained.
03:08The bill was passed by the Senate late Tuesday night via the government's 15 votes
03:13with the support of temporary independent Senator Wesley Gibbings.
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