Fahie Defends Granting Residency To Convict

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Esther Durand/BVI Platinum News

(PLTM) - The Territory’s leader has defended the decision by his Cabinet to reject the recommendation of the Immigration Board and grant a certificate of residence to a felon in May of this year.

“It was a properly ventilated topic inside the Cabinet. What I must say about it, it was not a cut and dry case, it was not someone who applied and didn’t fit all the other categories,” he told the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) yesterday October 19.

Counsel to the CoI, Mr. Bilal Rawat said that from the documents provided to the Inquiry, the board was clear on its recommendations for the individual not to be granted residency.

“The board recognizes that although that person has resided in the territory for over twenty years a criminal record exists. And the board then says as stipulated in section 18 (1) (a) [Immigration Act], the person receiving a certificate of residency should be of good character and therefore these persons should not hold any criminal record within the territory", Rawat read.

He then asked the Premier: “in circumstances where the Act says that someone must be of good character, can you assist the Commissioner at all with the basis on which Cabinet was able to say that someone who had a criminal record could still get a certificate of residence?”

Premier Fahie said Cabinet was faced with the fact the BVI was the only home the individual knew and whether they should reject someone’s application based on a mistake made when they were wrong.

“When does it start with the good character? Is it that their record is known but they can vouch since that time, that person has a good character? When does the good character start? Does it have to be a good character all their life without any blemish?” Premier Fahie asked.

He said: “our young people get in trouble here and there, but if here is the only place they know as home and they made a misstep in their life, the question is how long do you go before you allow this person to be given the opportunity."

Speaking specifically to the individual, Premier Fahie said, “this was an individual on the record that was brought to Cabinet showed clearly that this was a person who spent all their life basically in the BVI, which we have a lot them.”

He said Cabinet examined the application carefully.

“But the larger question, which was a discussion, was how do we eliminate persons for life that made a mistake when they were young? When will they ever be able to apply, not that it is a right, but when are you able to apply for this?”

He said the Immigration Act is silent on that aspect.

“Should their record only be considered for two years, five years, ten years. When would it be that they would be given the privilege to apply again?”

Commissioner of the CoI, Sir Gary Hickinbottom then asked the Premier how does the Cabinet exercise discretion when the law is clear on the issue of good character.

“How do we go from that which is a statement of what the law is, to an exercise of discretion by the Cabinet where this preconditioning appears not to have been complied with. How does that square up?”

In response, Premier Fahie reemphasized his previous points.

Governor John Rankin testified before the CoI that he thought the decision to grant residency to the individual was poor, noting that he was appalled by the move.

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