Host of Honestly Speaking, Pastor Claude O. Skelton-Cline during the May 13, 2026, episode where he questioned the House of Assembly's rationale for limiting access to citizenship. Photo: Facebok

Deputy Premier and Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change Hon Julian Fraser, RA (R3), during the first public consultation of the Constitutional Negotiating Team on May 5, 2026. Photo: YouTube

During the May 13, 2026, airing of his show titled ‘The Price of Freedom’, Skelton-Cline said he listened to the first public consultation of the Constitutional Negotiating Team on May 5 and was struck by several things. 

Among them was the response from Deputy Premier and Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Climate ChangeHon Julian Fraser, RA (R3), when asked about limiting citizenship status to persons with third and fourth ancestry.

Hon Fraser, in responding to the question on May 5, said the HoA looked at the situation, adding it is very tricky. “You can open a floodgate that the capacity in the Virgin Islands can’t hold. So, we need we need to go through a vetting process while they are allowed to stay here in the territory free of immigration control.

Who then can claim citizenship?- Skelton-Cline

Skelton-Cline said he was “struck” by the HoA’s rationale as explained by the Deputy Premier. 

“I said to myself, you've got to be kidding me. The House of Assembly, in their wisdom, decided that they will stop at the third generation, the fourth, what the Immigration Act provides, because they were concerned about the influx. Well, my God!”

Shelton-Cline asked who can claim citizenship if a boy, girl, man or woman whose parent is from the Virgin Islands cannot claim their ancestral rights without jumping through all kinds of crazy hoops put in place. 

“The one place they can’t get put out of is the place where their identity, where they’re rooted. And if you’re gonna get overflow, if you’re concerned about being overrun, don’t you want to be overrun by your own people? Tell me that the member misrepresented what the House of Assembly intended. Tell me that’s not the reason, tell me that’s not true.”

He added that if this is in fact true, then he is with the All 13. “All 13 got to go, cause you got to be kidding me. That can’t be the rationale.”