Dear Editor,

With the immigration raids already in progress and the Brooks Tower Accord applications process still not completed, can someone please answer some questions?

This process is turning out to be a whole mess and robbery in the face of God. It is being circulated that the US$900 that was paid along with the application is no longer valid after two months. Is this correct or not?

There are lots of people who are still waiting for calls with regard to the completion of the Brooks Tower Accord applications process. This island is referred to as "The Friendly Island" but it certainly does not apply to the immigration process. Where is the fellowship among the Caribbean people?

There is good and bad in every country. But here, even the good receives bad treatment for no apparent reason. At the immigration office, it seems as though the staff really prefers a full crowd to be there on a daily basis because if this were not true, they would have provided accurate information to the clients at the start of the process, instead of having people waste hours waiting in line and having to return again and again with additional documents or documents that were previously provided to them.

The BTA process is not like this in Curaçao. Why is St. Maarten being so difficult with this process?

On another point is that the government should also address the issue of employers who take money from their employees to process working permits and never process them. These poor people are the ones to suffer. The funny thing about this situation is that after these people get deported, the jobs that are left opened are the types that the locals do not want to fill.

So what will happen to businesses that depend on construction workers, security guards, housekeepers, and gardeners etc.? There are hardworking "illegals" that are facing that plight because of the fact that their employers do not want to "step up to the plate." Then who is really to blame here?

Anyway, there are too many rumours going around with regard to the BTA. Do different rules apply to applicants that have children going to school? And is the processing fee of US$900 and the application no longer valid after two months? Can an official statement be made with regard to the BTA, once and for all?

Jamie Payne