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Judge Brings Clarity to BTA Applicants --- Minister of Justice has Right to Deport First Time Applicants.

Philipsburg:--- Persons who applied the first time for a Brooks Tower Permit has no right to be on St. Maarten and can be deported at any time. Judge Rene Van Veen in a ruling on Monday said that the Minister of Justice Roland Duncan is within his rights to deport any first time BTA applicant who applied between November 24th and December 31st 2010.
Judge Rene van Veen ruled that, based on the answers Minister of Justice Roland Duncan gave the court in his letter of May 27, 2011, the BTA process had been closed since December 2009, and after that date it was not possible to submit first time BTA applications as many people did last year, during the month of December.
This case started in January when a national of the Dominican Republic Pascal Bertrand Perez who filed for a BTA permit and had a receipt in hand proving that he had applied for a permit, was picked up by immigration and subsequently deported. He was a first time applicant who applied during the renewal period in November and December last year. Though the BTA process of December 2010 was ostensibly only supposed to be for renewals, the BTA intake office informed applicants that it was also possible to submit first time requests. Based on this information, Perez and hundreds of other persons submitted first time BTA requests. When he was deported he therefore argued that his deportation was in violation of the expectations that had been raised, that he would be allowed to await the decision on his application on the island.
The judge asked the Minister of Justice to inform the court if first time BTA applications were possible, and if so, would this mean that applicants could await the decision on their request on the island. The judge also asked the Minister to submit the minutes of a meeting of Parliament during which he had allegedly stated that first time BTA applications were possible. In a letter to the court dated May 27, 2011, Duncan replied that first time BTA applications were not possible.
Based on that answer from the Minister of Justice, the judge then ruled that the Minister was fully within his rights to deport Perez.

Consequences of Judgment.

This ruling of the court of first instance granted on Monday means that all persons who submitted first time BTA permit requests in December 2010, cannot receive a residence permit, as there is no legal basis to grant them one. The judge made this clear in his ruling when he stated that their existed no "concrete outlook of obtaining a residence permit" when the decision to deport him was taken. The judge stated that, based on the Minister's answer, he had come to the conclusion that "if after 2009 first time applications had been submitted, it did not mean that Duncan had established a policy that made it possible to submit first time applications after 2009. There was also no policy in place to the effect that first time applicants may await the decision on their request on St. Maarten. In so far as Perez had argued that he be allowed to await the decision on his request on the island those arguments were rejected by the court.
The ruling also means that immigration may now move to deport any first time applicant as they have no legal basis to be on the island. For some time now first time BTA applicants believed that having proof that they had filed for a BTA permit, protected them from deportation. It is now clear that according to the Minister's letter to the court, and the judge's acceptance of that letter, first time BTA applicants cannot receive a residence permit, and therefore will be deported if found by immigration. A first time BTA receipt has now turned into a trap since it can be used as proof that they were on the island illegally.
What remains unclear in all this, is what recourse all those individuals have, who, based on written instructions from the BTA intake office, went to the labor office and paid for their work permit. It is clear from the court's ruling and the Minister's letter, that they are residing illegally on St. Maarten, and will never receive a residence permit under the BTA.

Click here to read Judge Van Veen's Ruling delivered on Monday.

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