St. Lucia’s Prime Minister Allen Chastanet says his government plans to continue to lobby for an international treaty, since St. Lucia was threatened on the issue of accepting deportees.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, Chastanet said St. Lucia was told that if it did not accept the deportees, travel for locals would be pulled. He said this was a major concern, so St. Lucia opted to adhere to the policy.
But Chastanet said he has made it known to the US that St. Lucia is unhappy with the current system.
According to St. Lucia News Online, the prime minister said he is particularity concerned that someone who spent most of their childhood and adulthood in the US, are sent back to St. Lucia and other Caribbean countries, but was quick to point out that the flaw in that policy comes from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) legislation governing air travel.
He explained that the US uses that legislation to send back people, because the agreement states that if someone leaves one state, and that person is detained or denied entry, the country of origin must accept them back.
Chastanet, however, hinted that that agreement is being abused on the basis that if someone spends most of his/her life in US and they commit a serious crime, they are repatriated.
US President Donald Trump has vowed to immediately deport at least 2 million undocumented immigrants in the US, many of whom are Caribbean nationals, including Saint Lucians.
