Open borders have created problems- Doug Wheatley
Host of the 3D Show on ZBVI 780 AM, Doug Wheatley on Friday February 3, 2017 said there have been talks about it and if not addressed could cause problems and the people could react.
“We here in the BVI have had open borders for many, many years and it has created problems,” he said. “And the government has not been listening to people who have been complaining about some aspects of it.”
The talk show host mentioned the United States of America and the United Kingdom as examples to drive his point home.
“Now people from around the world, Donald Trump is closing down on open borders in the United States. The United Kingdom, one of the main reasons why persons voted the way they did in the referendum is because they felt that there were too many migrants, refugees coming from Europe and other places and that was one of the reasons why they voted to get out of the European Union.”
He reasoned that the ordinary people of the UK were not happy with the level of migration in the UK, but the elites and the Government were not integrating with the ordinary people so they were unaware of the strong feelings that they had towards migration and refugees. He said when they actually became aware of it was after the Brexit referendum when the people voted to leave and then they expressed their reasons.
Laws need to be strengthened
The outspoken talk show host noted that in the Virgin Islands, there have been open borders for a long time and instead of tightening the borders, the laws are being loosened up to make it easier to come to the VI.
“And I think we need to take a good look at those laws because if we don’t one day the people of the BVI will react as the people in the UK and at that point, it will be too late.”
Work permits are issued while unemployment is high
He said a classic example is issuing work permits while unemployment is high.
“Whereby you continue to issue work permits while there are a certain amount of unemployment among BV Islanders and so forth. It behooves all of the government to listen to the ordinary man and to see where he is hurting and what his views and ideas are. Instead you waiting untill you have a referendum and an election and then you find that you really didn’t know that, that was how the people felt.”
According to him, there have been several amendments to the Work Permit, Labour Codes, Passport, and Immigration laws without consulting with the people, and he believes that the easier it is for expatriates to come, the more resentment there are from the locals, “because they feel that they are not being consulted on any of these things.”
“These are the comments that I hear all the time, but the main thing is that a government should be responsive to its people and also to be responsible and that is not happening. You need transparency and accountability on the part of the government and we have problems with that here. To some extent, the government sees its role as to run the country as they see fit, so they make decisions and they don’t really interact with the people. And if you don’t do that you will have a bad outcome,” Mr Wheatley concluded.
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24 Responses to “Open borders have created problems- Doug Wheatley”
Not everyone can do the work. As to illegal entry, there have been cases where boats have dropped off
people at night in places like Smugglers Cove west end. and other places. what can you do? Then there are those
who have followed the rules and are watched eagle-eye.
People come here to do the simplest of jobs. You mean to tell me we have to issue work permits for even Receptionists?? Locals can't even qualify for a receptionist position? Give me a break, the damn place is a free for all. I feel like a foreigner in my own country.
2. Unemployment, is at the fault of the own individuals who don't want to work the in such spotlight of not being able to do better, society has set a bad eye on certain jobs for people to do. These jobs are majority of minimum wages paid to employees that are dictated upon. So how can a young person or anybody of the matter growing up in these industries and society must react to work for lower income than the higher income jobs? It has been a lifestyle growing up long time ago.
3. What will it solve, if you can't change the mind of the younger generation? How will they work these jobs if they don't see it as a need to do? We are not the only country in the world, that have unemployment issues, but you should not use the immigration as an excuse to wonder why your aunts, uncles, nice, nephew, sister, brother and cousins don't want to work jobs in minimum wage markets and don't see the benefit of earning to make it better.
You have to change the way the system operates, why are we still paying lower minimum wage below standards, why some employers still can't pay NHI for them either? Is it, because they are to greedy? A lot of businesses still take advantage of this because they can't talk to locals about how the are poor at doing the job, and can't find locals who are willing to stay and take the crap and learn to manage their anger.
Further, when employers can pay imported labour less than they pay locals they prefer to hire outsiders even for jobs that locals are willing to do. In any event, work permits should be tied to unemployment. If unemployment is high, less work permits should be issued. Work permits should also be issued for surge needs (demand above local capability) or for skills not available locally or are available in limited supply.
Moreover, growth and development require a growing population. Consumer demand plays a vital role in fueling the economy and economic growth. In regards to the BVI, migration has contributed to economic growth. Nonetheless, migration needs to be effectively managed, especailly in a small territory/country such as the BVI. Rapid migration can cause friction within groups in the territory and can cause quick social order disruption. We can embrace migration but it must be managed migration.
Another area of open border concern is the extensive, porous coastline. The BVI has a porous and extensive coast line and lacks the marine and air assets to effectively monitor and control who comes and goes and what they are importing. For example, the BVI does not manufacture guns but guns seems to be common place in the BVI. How are they getting into the BVI? No boats should be exempted from close scrunity. The porous border can make it easy to move drugs through the BVI. Border security must become a top priority.
graduating and college students every year.We need jobs for them. Point, we have enough.