Police:
Majority of arrests in
2004 were foreigners
PHILIPSBURG--Of the 618 arrests in 2004, only 36 per cent were persons born in St. Maarten, Chief Commissioner of Police Derrick Holiday revealed on Wednesday.
He said this had prompted a demand by Justice Minister of the Netherlands Antilles David Dick for an increase in the number of illegals deported. To ensure this demand is carried out, Holiday said, a group of four officers will be sought to work along with the Immigration Department with the specific task of “knocking on the doors of those who overstay their visits.”
He told The Daily Herald Wednesday, “If you visit the island and are given three weeks stay by the Immigration Department, at the end of that three weeks you should under normal circumstances be gone. If you are not, then we will find you and make sure that you leave.”
“We don’t want to blame any one group, but the truth is, if you look at what is happening and who are being arrested, then it is clear that the number of crimes committed by non-nationals is too high,” he said.
He said controls would be stepped up in the coming weeks to ensure that all undocumented persons residing on the island were repatriated. When asked about facilities to hold illegals during a major control, Holiday said, “We are concerned about it, but we will not allow this to deter us from our work.”
He said that contrary to statements published in another local newspaper, the intention was to increase the number of illegal residents repatriated annually by at least 25 per cent, which he said was part of a commitment the police force had made to Justice Minister of the Netherlands Antilles David Dick.
“At present the Immigration Department deports about 1,200 illegals per year and the intention is to increase that number by 25 per cent by the end of this year, which we believe we are on track with,” Holiday said.
Dick had also told this newspaper during his last visit to the island that police had a responsibility to ensure that the immigration laws of the land are obeyed. He said people could not look at illegal residency as not being a criminal act.
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