St. Martin News Network

Minister Duncan is showing again he is above the law. People are already exploited by the employers and what he wants to inforce is only showing that they can do what they want with the workers.

I agree these undocumented residents should be treated humanly but the minister has gone too far. This is not a Pandora's box, it's an atrocity. More money for illegal consultant companies that disguises themselves within government offices. I can also see a lot of "students" entering St. Maarten and disappearing without a trace. Special treatment for investors you say? No sir, this will is special treatment for crime lords and mafias or just plain and simple, - people with money. They will run the island and its government from behind the scenes. I think this man is not good in his head. He is paving a path for himself and his mafia friends. Someone need to stop him fast since he is now putting the future of the island on a very dangerous path. He is making big decisions without analyzing the situation and the impact it can have. He is in a hurry for something. And Sarah? She cant say nothing because he is the one protecting her and Maria's a$$es from jail. I will make sure that my kids do come back here for sure. No future for the law abiding here. They will be much better off abroad in A.M.E.R.I.C.A.

JULIET WILL PROMOTED TO SCALE 15 TOO. GO JULIE GO JULIE. PEOLPLE SAY ARE EVERYDAY BY DUNKY, DON'T WORRY WITH THEM WITH YOUR BROOM MUSTACH AND MOP TONG.

JULIET WILL BE PROMOTED TO SCALE 15. GO JULIE GO JULIE. PEOPLE SAY YOU ARE EVERYDAY BY DONKEY, DON'T WORRY WITH THEM WITH YOUR BROOM MUSTACH AND MOP TONGUE.

Yes, it's a good idea. Finally Mr. Duncan is presenting something that is good for all on the island. @WIKILEAKS, obviously you are jealous on Juliet who is one of the few policeman that knows and understand customer service in the police force. Keep up the good work Mr Juliet.

Boy, have I ever seen more.....? Besides agreeing or disagreeing.....some laws still have to be presented in parliament? Civil servants are already being informed of upcoming laws? WHAT?!?!?! What is then the function of our parliament? What happened to the legislative and controlling power? This is again showing me what a joke our parliament is.......It is also showing the ministers misplaced arrogance and "power"...

JULIET is as dum as can be. He can't even write a letter for himself. He never knows nothing. Whenever you ask him a question, he can NEVER give you an answer. he also have to go and check it out. He's Duncan kiss a**. All he does is carry news all day. He can get what ever scale he wants, but common sence and brain you'll have to born with it. Maybe Juliet and Finally need to travel the world and see how immigration officer work. If you think Sxm immigration officers are rude, you haven't seen nothing yet. Yes i must agree. There are some PIGS working at the Immigration at the Airport. It's only going to get worse with Duncan and his BAVPOLers. God bless Sxm

By the way: I surely believe that these are good initiatives.

Government is basically looking at the income that can be generated from these measures and actually it is time to properly document everyone who is living here. We need to know what we are working with and what upgrades have to take place.

But I also see where there is no turning back anymore. Those who feel that they are the real st. maarteners are finished completely. They will now be totally outnumbered with absolutely no more say in their home. No more rights to the jobs. Just a name but thats it. The old heads are dying out and the younger generations have absolutely no idea what this Island stood for or was all about. It is finished.

O.M.G. ;-)

Oh sweet SXM land.
This is a lot to digest right now. However, this concerns MOSTLY persons who are already residing on the Island and IF the Laws are properly implemented (and executed) then it should mean a serious boost to our financial koffers instead of having these people just live undocumented and tax free on the Island.

I am however concerned about the poverty level, education, health and general social standards of the Island. Just when you thought that it could not get worse, you are hit with a bombshell.

My main questions are .... Do we have sufficient manpower in IND to properly oversee, execute and supervise these Laws???? AND .... Will we now be closing our borders in order to get a control on the present situation???? Look what happened with the BTA. Will we see a repeat of this??? Will the instruction guidelines be documented this time, in order to insure that the staff understands what the procedures are and execute them accordingly???? or will he just make someone else his scapegoat when things go wrong?????.

And "Shooz" now you starting to see the HUGE picture. What is really the role and authority of Parliament. In my view, that is where the "JA KNIKKERS" are. The real power lies with the COM. ... what the COM says goes. Which camp did the Min. of Fin. come from again???

BTW.
@ PG/Ltl. SXM/Shooz. - ref. Dutch cla**es. Was removed before I got back, so here goes.

Sorry PG, they are both right. there is a diff. between zoals jouw, jou and zo als jij is proper Dutch. Did not realize we were using official language or I would have corr. the entire sentence for you LOL.
However, had you been a Rotterdammer you would not have even used jouw but rather jaauw. ;-)

But rest a**ured, especially in todays Dutch slangs, .... zoals jou/jouw ... is totally accepted ... for proper Dutch cla**es pls. see the other 2. ;-) ;-)
(Pak nou effe een pilsje of een bakkie jongens en chillax .LOL)

Minister Duncan
I strongly believe that before you implement such far reaching rules, studies need to be done on how this all will impact our already burdened society. You policy changes should also get the approval of the other ministers as well as parliament. Should you fail to do so, then I think the parliamentarians need to vote to have you removed and sent home.

Such drastic changes will impact of education system. Already we cannot sustain and find places for the number of pupils we have, This policy will also turn this island in a free fro all. I wonder on which other islands St maarteners would be able to go and get the same opportunities for residency, naturalization and admittance of their families.

This policy seems nothing more than a "ONE MAN SHOW" and it is not well thought out in terms of the consequences it will have.

Parliamentarians you all are either dead or sleeping or you just happy with your dam fat salaries. FOR GOD AND SXM SAkE : CALL MINISTER DUNCAN TO ORDER AND STOP HIS MADNESS. I AM SURE HE HAS ALREADY SECURED PERMITS ETC FOR HIS WOMAN AND CHILD IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not just now that I'm seeing the big picture...I've been saying all the time that there's no such thing as seperation between legislative, controlling and executive power....Simply because there is no political ideology to be found with any party and therefore no one is being held accountable for actions deviating from a joined vision....Hence, political leaders make up things as they go....Island council mentality in a country....

"What is happening right now is that illegal immigrants that are held by the police are treated in an inhumane fashion and that has to stop. The other day, I lost a court case because someone that was residing illegally on the island was kept in the police holding cells for 30 days while another young man tried to take his own life because he spent three months behind bars to be deported". Duncan...

There they go again with their political correctness...Illigal aliens are not" illegal immigrants" or "undocumented residents" immigrants or residents are persons with legal residency. Whenever anyone enters one's country illegally they have broken our immigration laws and are therefore criminals and should be treated as such.

The minister needs to select conservative judges and prosecutors from the Netherlands and not let them send him bleeding-heart liberal judges. What's next??? a bank robbery will be considered to be an un documented withdrawal????

To: A true St. Maartener

I have a strong feeling that you are employed in one of the departments that is falling under Mr. Duncan. Either you are jealous or dislike Mr. Juliet. It's normal for dept. heads to touch base with the Ministry of Justice ever so often, this is how the government works dummy. You are very bias, besides Mr. Juliet, there are many other dept. heads and other civil servants who are frequently at the office of the Ministry. How come you can only see Juliet? And furthermore dummy, Juliet visits to the Ministry is work related! He earned his position through hard work. Try to do the same. You will reach nowhere by trying to stir up problem.

Did I really read that these changes have not gone through the current ministerial council, or the council of advice, nor the parliament of this island, nor have been published, yet he is already instructing civil servants and immigration personnel to carry out his policies that have not as yet become law? Duncan should take some time off and go actually get his law degree. The judge should be looking on and saying, 'Wow, I made a mistake in Ms. Hodge's case, because look how this man is instructing more people to carry out his orders that are not in compliance with proper procedures'.

Nowhere is he showing how to stop more illegals from coming into the island. It would be far more cheaper to prevent them from coming in, in the first place. Duncan, you are sending the message that it is o.k. to come to SXM, commit some crimes and when the police is moving in, run to an immigration officer and say ''I am illegal''. Then you will be treated very humanely and get a free ticket back to your country because feeding you in jail would be too expensive. Even if the police grab you, you can say, "I am illegal'' and the police will have to hand you over to Immigration. Beyond that you still can slip through the system by saying, "I have a partnership contract with Mr. X a rich and prominent investor to the island". Again, you go free.

Concubine? Anybody can say they live with somebody just so they can stay on the island. Come on! Furthermore, you can live together today and separate tomorrow. Then what? Remember Adam Sadler movie where he and a male colleague pretended to be partners just so the guy could get his insurance money he worked hard for. That was a messed up system where people were forced to lie. You are creating the same messed up system here.

Duncan, you need to look further than your nose. Look at the consequences of each of your actions. Yes, ministers have more power now than former commissioners, but that does not mean that you have carte blanche to do whatever you want. These changes adversely affect the average person living here. Already we have insufficient schools, teachers and material. Already we have an over burden on our infrastructure. Already we are too overcrowded. Already law abiding people are living in inhumane situation on this island. Why don't you care about those and their human rights?

With all these fees that you are charging these people which they don't have, I hope it is your house they rob and not mine, to pay for all your charges. Why don't you take a long look at how our people are treated by American immigration? A treaty should have reciprocity. Treatment should be the same. Damn, we are only 16 square miles, we have children and grandchildren. We can't take in the entire world. You are no Obama, so don't even think about it. America has money, land and possibilities, we don't. Duncan, you really gone mad! :sad:

Denmark's strict immigration laws have saved the country billions in benefits, a government report has claimed. The Integration Ministry report has now led to calls among right-wing populists to clamp down further on immigrants to increase the savings.
Denmark has saved €6.7 billion ($10 billion) over the last 10 years, money which otherwise would supposedly have been spent on social benefits or housing.

Like much of southern Europe, Italy faces the daunting challenge of trying to regulate and manage ma**ive migration inflows from North Africa and the Mediterranean. In response, the Italian government has instituted various measures aimed at curbing immigration. One of the harshest, pa**ed by parliament in 2009, penalizes illegal immigrants with a fine of €5,000-10,000 and allows immigration officials to detain them for up to 6 months.

Despite its anything-goes image, Australia has a surprisingly draconian immigration policy. And none of the country's various immigration laws is more controversial than the Migration Reform Act of 1992 and its subsequent amendments, which collectively require the authorities to detain all non-citizens who are discovered in Australia without a valid visa. Between 1999 and 2003, the law was used to detain more than 2,000 child refugees from Southeast Asia and the Middle East who were seeking asylum in Australia.

recently the Japanese government has sought to curtail immigration in an effort to shore up its unprecedentedly high unemployment figures. The most infamous of Tokyo's new anti-immigration policies is the "Nikkei" Law. Pa**ed in spring 2009, the law allows the Japanese government to pay $3,000 to each unemployed Latin American immigrant of Japanese descent (known as Nikkei in Japanese) and $2,000 to each of that unemployed worker's family members to return to their country of origin. The catch? These workers and their family members would be prohibited from ever returning to work in Japan. An estimated 366,000 Brazilians and Peruvians lived in Japan at the time.

For a nation that is the United States' largest source of illegal aliens, Mexico has stringent laws against anyone sneaking into the country. According to J. Michael Waller, vice president for information operations with the Center for Security Policy, private citizens may make a citizen's arrest on a suspected illegal alien in that country, and immigrants can be deported without due process.

In 2010, Arizona legislators approved what was to become the strictest immigration law in the nation, triggering a firestorm of protests. The law expands police powers and allows them to check anyone who is suspected of being an illegal immigrant. Even before the law, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio led strong enough enforcement efforts that illegal aliens were reportedly moving out of the state.

Oklahoma's immigration law, approved in 2007, prevents illegal immigrants from using taxpayer-supported services. In addition, if an employee loses his job to an illegal alien, he can sue his employer for discrimination. Under the law, dubbed the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007, businesses with state contracts must use an online program such as E-Verify to check the immigration status of new workers.

Title 8 of the U.S. Code has a chapter outlining the illegality of hiring or harboring illegal immigrants. This extends to those who should reasonably know that the people they're hiring or harboring are illegal immigrants. The term "hiring" is used in a very broad sense, to include anything that would help an illegal immigrant find work, such as referring her to an employer. "Harboring" means concealing an immigrant from detection by the authorities and offering her any help to stay illegally in the United States. These laws discourage anyone from helping illegal immigrants, which in turn dissuades immigrants from overstaying their visas or coming in illegally.

The Japanese policy looks like the dutch policy. The so called "oprot premie" (get lost benefit). Government will pay an ex amount to legal residents of foreign decent to return to their country and give up their rights to return to the Netherlands for a period of time.

I can go on and on but the bottom line is this. All around the world Countries are waking up and trying to resolve or curb their Immigration problems. SXM, on the contrary, is doing all possible to further endanger our Economical, Financial, Labor, Education, Health and Social well being.

When will it all stop??? When we are (and I'm really sorry to say this) worse off than Haiti???? Sxm is overfull. We have no more land available to properly house the influx of people. The Hills are overloaded and therefore the risk of ma**ive floodings/mudslides are a reality. Outbreaks of health epidemics are just looming. Do we have adequate healthcare should there be a disaster??? There are so many concerns to face/consider when implementing such Laws without first closing your borders to certain Countries ... as harsh as it might sound.

It is really sad to see the further destruction of our "once" Paradise Island, especially when you have no where else to run to. :sad:

@ "Shooz"

unemployed Latin American immigrant of Japanese descent (known as Nikkei in Japanese) and $2,000 to each of that unemployed worker's family members

So this concerns also born Japanese and possible 2nd gen. Japs. Imagine that.

Hold up one minute!!!!!:, Just look across the water towards St. Barths. No free riding illegal immigrants there... French bums are also immediately deported to Grand Case.

Immigration is what makes this country thrive.
So, there should be fewer immigration controls and freer immigration, not more control and restriction. Little S’Martin should indeed become a model country.The government should be a**isting people to get away from torture, poverty, death starvation, violence, homeless shelters and a**isting these people to make better lives for themselves right here in S’Martin.

If the Dutch government of motherland Netherlands wants to reduce S’Martin’s people coming to, or staying in The Netherlands after successfully completing or even failing their studies, it should increase foreign aid of the sort that increases empowerment of unskilled people in India, China, Guyana, Jamaica, Dominica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, white Americans & Australians who become skilled only after arrival on Little S'Martin, to take control of their own lives through promoting health, civil society, non-violent conflict transformation, human rights and self-initiative in their own country of birth.

I read it. You know that the "oprot premie" is/was also forAntilleans who are/were on welfare for a lengthy period (kansarm)?

Even though the geographical (and social) situation of SXM is totally different then Europe and more specifically the Netherlands, SXM should not only copy laws but also look at how to enforce them. When it is of "Landsbelang" (interest of the country) for the Netherlands, they will (and already are) contribute to border protection (defense/immigration).

But indeed, who will pay for this? This should been structured BEFORE becoming country.

@lil SXM:
Pure nonsens

MR DUNCAN HAS OPENED A PANDORA BOX, AND THE WORMS WILL CRAWL OUT.

CAN A MARRIED MAN WITH TWO LAWFUL CHILDREN STILL LIVING WITH HIS WIFE
HAVE A CONCUBINE ALSO?????????????

BECAUSE I HEARD IT IS POSSIBLE.

HOWEVER I WANT TO KNOW, IF A MARRIED WOAMN CAN HAVE A CONCUBINE
AND A HUSBAND, AS THE LAST CHILD IS NOT HIS.

I THINK MR DUNCAN NEEDS TO CALM DOWN, PUT COLD WATER ON HIS HEAD,
AND START ALL OVER, AS HE HAVE GOOD IDEAS, BUT THIS ONE SMELLS

FISHY, FISHY , FISHY..........

OUR LABOUR POLICY AND THE THERE AFTER a**OCIATED RESIDENTIAL PERMIT CONTINUES:

a) allow many uneducated and even non skill foreign labour employment into COUNTRY ST.MAARTEN helping reducing on employment in their country of origin.

b) allow children of immigrant workers to attend school in COUNTRY ST.MAARTEN at the expense of our tax payers.

In both cases their country of origin do not contribute one red cent or a dime and this situation must come to an end as soonest.

COUNTRY ST.MAARTEN EMPLOYING THE WORLD AND EDUCATING THE WORLD WITHOUT BEEN COMPENSATED FOR.

WHAT IS THE UNITED NATION DOING FOR US IN THIS SITUATION??????????????

I am getting hooked on loggin to my favorite gossip and read who is bashing who..
some of you and yes i must say i too added one or two things, but we must all take a big step back and try to look ourselves good, see our faults and try to fix them, cuz in the end its us living with ourselves. What ever happened to our St.Maarten, days we where all one family, visit anyone anytime, and we had time and the money was less... point is money is the problem. we all caught up with trying to outshow the other instead of living within and with each other. No matter what happens with our new st.maarten we must learn how to live how it once was, because the day will come that we will all be struck heavy that it will impair us for quite some time. Government trying to some extent but sometimes get caught up in that money game too.

I miss good old St.Maarten. ( but i know reality too )

It's time the Dutch take over immagration and foreign affairs, before the French institute border control because of Mr Ducan Adhoc policies. After all, the majority of these concubines ends up pregnant and having their children on the french side .Mine you well this is food for thought. The Treaty of Concordia was instituted for the benefit of the Native people of this Land.Not the 40 to 50 k aliens that are now over running us. And now MR Ducan wants to give them more power by enacting laws to make them stronger.Please act now before the borders are controlled.

If most of you could read, there would not have been so many stupid comments. Some comments are purely nonsense, and others have nothing to do with the article. " deep breath" its so sad, ignorance seems to very contagious. Nothing is pa**ed, COM is backing the minister, Parliament will have their say, and if they agree with what is presented to them, will be affective august 1st. The other legislation will be worked on, presented to parliament and then will become effective as per 1st of januari 2013. Thats all folks! Damnnnnn, sorry a** people out there.

Well Velchi. Sounds to me like the Min. has made up his mind no matter what.

There is nowhere that says .... "If Parliament approves them".

Sounds like a done deal to me and presenting it to Parliament is just a formality.

But hey .... Let's wait and see.

Cudos to the Minister of Justice for finally attempting to do something about our immigration problems as he as Minister has allowed mant of the foreigners into this island since obtaining counrty status. The truth of the matter is a moratorium should be placed on issueing residence permits. Persons whom will be granted residence permits and children because of family life is just a continuation of what is currently taking place. To make matters worse, our population is growing out of hand because we keep allowing more and more to come in and so call legalise them. The BTA was a mess and this will simply become yet another hot mess. Clean up the current illegal immigrants first before you change the rules and regulations. There is nothing wrong with the rules and regulations we currently have. It is the people in high public office bend it too their likings. Persons should not be issued a residence permit if they don't have atleast a bachelors diploma. We have enough uneducated and need to stop upholding them. This includes those that are already here. Allow the current population to find work as we all realise the economic slump that we are entering. We keep hearing talk about employing younger persons and the elderly who can and still want to work however we keep importing labor and making it easy for them to stay long term with as excuse "being humane". How detrimental for our society in the long run. Minister Duncan could not bring back yet again the BTA so this is his new way to open the doors even more, if we have any doors!!!

Duncan should stop having his other head stroke so that he can think straight. I thought that after all these years he would stop this foolishness. He just gets fuzzy after being stroked.

Thank you to the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Labor for creating a lower cla** population on this island. We the middle cla** will suffer for your lack of common sense, insight and patriotism.

@Velchi:

Is that right? When is the parliamentarian recess finished?

@ Velchi

You seem to have an endless supply of nonsense available.
Besides the Parliament, which like Shooz stated is on recess, with new parliamentary year opening in September, there is the research phase by the Council of Advice, the co-signature of the Governor which is preceded by an intense research to look at the legality of the law, and the six weeks waiting period for the input of the Ombudsman, before the law can be published as only then will it go in effect. Should either of these bodies have any questions, etc. the law will be returned to the minister to answer same. No way in hell, heaven or earth will Aug. 1st, 2012 be attainable. Today is already July 10th.