PHILIPSBURG--Illegal immigrant registration program Brooks Tower Accord (BTA) didn't pull tens of thousands of undocumented residents "out of the darkness," but every person who applied is one less person dodging immigration and living here legally, said Justice Minister Jacoba in an exclusive interview with The Daily Herald Thursday.

In the interview with this newspaper a range of issues from immigration to police affairs to her plans after the Netherlands Antilles is dismantled was discussed.

Brooks Tower ended officially February 28. Immigration controls resumed, on a small scale, the next day.

Minister Jacoba said local BTA workers still need to evaluate requests and issue permits to hundreds of successful applicants. "I cannot say it's really over," the minister said, "because we're still delivering permits to the people, and you have the steering group [cases] that you still have to be looking into."

Local BTA workers received 3,666 application dossiers for more than 4,000 persons for the one-year legalization programme that ended last December. These applicants were much fewer than the 20,000 persons estimated living here illegally.

The minister called BTA successful, saying each person who gets a permit is eligible for insurance, security, free travel and fair job conditions. "I'm very satisfied...with Brooks Tower; even if it was one or 10 or 1,000 then I am satisfied," the minister said. "This means a new 1,000 persons with the documents really exist on the island; they have come out of the darkness they were into."

BTA's St. Maarten office had approved 2,600 dossiers up to Thursday, because parents could apply for their children and could cause applications to cover several persons at once. Officials denied 51 requests, but applicants can appeal these decisions.

Another 1,015 dossiers are under review by a special assessment committee, because those applicants don't fit the actual BTA Category I or II criteria.

Excluding Curaçao, the other islands had fewer applicants than St. Maarten: BTA workers in Bonaire collected 12 dossiers, while workers in Statia collected 11 (nine simple cases, two steering group cases) and no one came forward on Saba. Curaçao BTA workers approved 4,680 requests, and only 360 cases are up for review.

The minister lamented that some misinformation had been disseminated by unofficial sources during the early days of the exercise and contended that that had probably scared hundreds of undocumented persons away until it was too late. Many criticized Brooks Tower Accord, calling it a trap for undocumented foreigners and a scam to fill Central Government's coffers. "If you are a serious government, you cannot put traps for the people," Minister Jacoba said. "This was a serious project."

BTA ran six days a week from November 3 to December 15. Hundreds flocked to the building at the beginning, but the numbers trickled off as the days past. Brooks Tower workers saw a two-week lull in applicants at the end of November that surged into a rush of thousands of persons in the last two weeks.

As recently as this week, a person tried to register for Brooks Tower. Registration closed nearly three months ago. "We as government have given the foreigners a chance to go and do the thing right," the minister said. "I don't think there are many countries that have done this; we were hoping everyone would have used the opportunity."

She continued: "Even if there are still a lot of undocumented persons there, they chose it, we didn't choose it; we gave them the opportunity."

The Central Government has separated immigration affairs from police, making it a new entity that collaborates with the office of naturalization. The minister says the new FMS immigration system is tamper-proof and gives immigration workers more security.

The minister hopes that strengthening immigration limits the influx of undocumented immigrants. (See related story)

As for the persons already here, the Brooks Tower was the only option to get them back into the system.

Brooks Tower was divided into three unique categories to define an undocumented immigrant, based on how long he/she has been here: I was for persons who arrived in the Netherlands Antilles before December 31, 2001, II was for persons who have arrived been 2002 and 2005, and III was for anyone who arrived in or after 2006.

Persons in Category I and II had options to stay on the island. Category III persons had no choice but to leave the island. All BTA permits expire November 3. The Central Government expects these persons to apply through the regular channels for work and residence permission.

"We have them in the picture now, we know who they are, it's good for St. Maarten it's also good for these people too," Minister Jacoba told this newspaper. "So they can go home and arrange their passport and documents as every normal person would."

"I'm very glad about the development of this project," the minister said.

Category II and work permits

Antillean Justice Minister Magali Jacoba said Thursday the island's employment permit policy is too restrictive for many Brooks Tower Accord (BTA) Category II applicants.

Persons who arrived in the Netherlands Antilles between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2005, fall under BTA Category II.

They need to be working and have an employer sign as their guarantor to get a Brooks Tower permit.

All applicants for Brooks Tower Accord (BTA) must prove they are insured and pay into a guarantee fund.

In Curaçao, the BTA permit is not reliant on a work permit. St. Maarten is different. "The persons have to prove they had to get the intention to get the work permit, but he didn't have to wait until the process of the work permit finished, to get the BT permit," the minister said. "In St. Maarten, this is still the case."

A new work permit policy, which went into effect January 2009 and which was amended later, is harming BTA applicants. Category II applicants need only to prove they make minimum wage and can pay the processing fee. While anyone in the regular process has to meet other criteria like age and experience. "This policy is not working for this group; it's just a much too big group," the minister said.

Minister Jacoba has talked to Leader of Government Commissioner William Marlin about relaxing the policy to ensure BTA applicants don't become undocumented again.

Under the labour policy, non-national workers must be between 25 and 55. Others can't get permits. "We have a lot in the BTA that are young people of 20 years; what are you going to do with them," the minister said. "You can't send them away; they're born here, they went to school here, they don't know anything else but St. Maarten."

Seniors who have lived here illegally for decades also make things difficult. Once a person is 60, they are prohibited from working. But a residence permit comes along with the work permit. "You have a group above 60 who worked and lived for 20 years on St. Maarten, but now they can't work anymore," the minister said, adding Social Insurance Bank's SVB's new buy-in policy could cover uninsured persons and help them meet the requirements. "[Considering insurance] it must be easier for people above 60 years to get the residential permit."

Minister Jacoba said the Central and Island governments need to work more closely together for these exceptional cases.

The minister hopes Marlin will handle the permit policy for these BTA applicants.