Last night, we showed you our interview with Beverly Castillo, the Minister of State responsible for Immigration. She was discussing the Government's change in position regarding the NGO, Help For Progress. Government doesn't want their help in processing the hundreds of applications for refugee status in Belize.
As we showed you, there was a sudden rush to apply for the refugee status, mostly from people who have been living illegally in Belize for some time. The Minister did concede that the Refugee Eligibility Committee has received applications from such persons, which automatically disqualifies them. That's because to qualify as a refugee, interested persons have to submit their application less than 14 days after entering the country.
So, given this sudden frenzy for refugee status, and the fact that Government only publicized it after the press got a hold of the story, we asked Castillo what's making the application process so attractive:
Daniel Ortiz
"Can you assure us that this refugee regime is not a way for the ruling government to pad the voters list by providing status to persons here who will in the future be eligible to participate in the elections and secondly, can you allay the concern that there is no particular hustle or irregularity taking place with this particular project?"
Hon. Beverly Castillo - Minister of State, Ministry of Immigration
"I can assure you as it relates to the refugee, there is no padding of any list, absolutely not. I can also assure that there's no hustle. I believe if there was a hustle we would not be so fast to put a stop to it, to stock take and to look to cabinet for guidance on how we move forward. That is very important for us in immigration and as the new minister with responsibility for that area. I have said it to the senior staff in immigration, I have said it to our new director of refugees. We have refugees and we have immigration. To my mind as an experience public officer there was so many things I did in my previous professional life that were intertwined, that were mixed, that had related responsibilities. These 2 things we have to do and we better do them well. That is my talk with them each time I meet with senior management. We have to get it well. We have to build confidence and we have to ensure we move forward for service delivery to the people."
Castillo tells us that although the Refugee Committee has vetted a number of applications, she has not yet signed and approved anyone for asylum in Belize.
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