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Hulse Gets Hot When Asked About Ministers Pressing Influence At Immigration
posted (January 19, 2017)
And while Hulse was cool on that one, he ran hot when the media asked him about the visa irregularities that happened at the Immigration Department. Hulse was Minister of Immigration during the period when former Director Maria Marin says she was compiling a list of Ministers who frequented the office to follow up on the persons they had recommended for visas - and that Hulse was made aware of it. Today, the usually calm Hulse ran a little hot when the scenario was put to him:..

Hon. Godwin Hulse, Minister of Agriculture
"Every Chinese pay $2,000 for a visa and I have said then, I'll say now and I'll say forever, the visa is to visit Belize for 30 days. It's a visitors' visa. You have to have a criteria to come, a place to stay and a return ticket. You meet that, I wish the billion Chinese would come, because if you do the billion by the $2,000 per Chinese, we would never have to pay any taxes or work for the rest of life at least and everything would be honkey dory and free. I don't have that problem. I don't also have problem with any minister recommending. We live in a real world and these guys you know they get contribution."

Reporter
"Recommending people that they don't know. That was an issue."

Hon. Godwin Hulse, Minister of Agriculture
"Marisol, listen to me, you don't have to know the people. If you come to me and you say I want to bring my cousin and you are a contributor to me and you are asking me for a favor and I say, please look at the file for Marisol's cousin and if all is in order, facilitate if you can. What is wrong with that?"

Reporter
"That is not the practice anywhere else. Using the example of the US, I can't get just any minister to recommend me."

Hon. Godwin Hulse, Minister of Agriculture
"But the US use to want somebody there to support you and write and all sorts of things before they give you the letter. What is the problem we are having? You know what I would have a problem with: if a minister goes a director of immigration and everybody and says this is illegal, make sure he gets a visa etc. That would be totally and completely wrong."

Reporter
"Red flag these ministers. This is your former immigration director doing this and saying you were made aware of it."

Hon. Godwin Hulse, Minister of Agriculture
"I don't care. I've said time and time again, it could have been anybody. That is what representatives do. We have to understand that. Now if they recommended and it was wrong or it was illegal, I would have problem with it. But if somebody comes to you and say look man, I want to bring my cousin, I want to bring my sister, could you facilitate my file or have them speed up my file? What is wrong with that? That's what representatives do."

Jules Vasquez, 7News
"But the insinuation is that they were a corrupting and regular presence in the department by pressing their influence through whatever means. Influence was press irregularities."

Hon. Godwin Hulse, Minister of Agriculture
"I have said then, will say now and will say forever; I have made it crystal clear, if any ministers went to that director or anybody to force them to do anything that was illegal, call me. It didn't matter if was the prime minister. I made that known over and over. I will not stand here and begin to insinuate it. Nobody called me. Yes I know ministers were recommending. That went all the way to cabinet. Prime Minister said what he said over and over. I am saying and I say now and I will say then, in every one of these positions, people come for recommendation. It is not the recommendation that you do when you get a passport. Now that is wrong. Like Penner recommending this person that he didn't know. That is crazy. I cannot recommend you Marisol if I don't know you. That is to get a passport. But to get a visa to come here, you will never know the person. How will you ever know the person? It's not that kind of recommendation. It's the kind of recommendation that says "Jules is my friend, Jules is one of my supporters, Jules is one of my constituent. He want to bring his cousin or his somebody, please facilitate Jules application if it meets the requirements.""

Of course, there's a lot more on Immigration in tonight's news; later on, we'll have more highlights from yesterday's grilling of former Immigration Director, Ruth Meighan.

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