Almost 5,000 migrants from across the country have already scheduled their appointments for the 2022 Amnesty Program.

by Khaila Gentle

BELMOPAN, Mon. July 18, 2022
One of the bills brought from the House of Representatives to the Senate this Monday was the Belizean Nationality Amendment Bill 2022. The Bill seeks to facilitate the implementation of Amnesty 2022—the program for irregular migrants which is expected to begin in August of this year—by allowing for amendments to the Belizean Nationality Act Chapter 161 of the Substantive Laws of Belize (Revised Edition 2020).

Leader of Government Business, Senator Eamon Courtenay rose to present the Bill and outlined the Government’s position as it relates to the Amnesty Program:

“There are tens of thousands of persons in Belize who have either come here irregularly or came here regularly and have become irregular. These persons are in Belize, and for all intents and purposes have made Belize their home; however, they remain irregular. Like in any country, they’re fearful of coming to the Immigration Department to seek to regularize their status. They are fearful that if they do so, they will be arrested, deported, or arrested and charged or suffer some consequence—fined perhaps,” he stated.

Amnesty 2022 is expected to benefit up to sixty thousand irregular migrants living in Belize. That includes persons who have fled from neighboring Central American and Latin American nations either in fear of gang-related violence or in search of better employment opportunities, as well as migrants from Haiti who have escaped political upheaval.
In the past, some members of the public have expressed concern that gang members from other nations, fleeing persecution by their governments, would use the amnesty program to their advantage. Hon. Courtenay, however, maintained that no such thing would happen under the program. He also stressed the fact that the program is open to migrants of all nations:

“I want to stress two things: one, this is not solely for people from Latin America or Central America. It applies to all nationalities, ethnicities, and races. Second, there is a very rigorous security check that is done for every applicant for permanent residence, and that would also be done and applied to these applicants,” he stated.

“To persons who have expressed concerns about security issues about gang members being allowed to pass through this process: that is unlikely because of the system in place, and I can say that system has already turned up, not in relation to the amnesty, because that has not begun, but persons who have applied for citizenship and persons who have applied for permanent residence. That system has turned up persons who have convictions elsewhere, and they have been rejected and deported,” added Senator Courtenay.

Hundreds of thousands of persons are expected to turn up to take advantage of the program, and the government has already begun taking appointments. Since doing so, a total of 4,752 persons have signed up—1,627 of which are minors. According to Senator Courtenay, the majority of appointments so far have been made by persons in the Cayo District—a total of 1,586 persons, while over six hundred persons from the Belize District have signed up as well.

This, says Senator Courtenay, comes even before the Government’s launch of their public education and information campaigns and is a result of the International Organization of Migration’s (IOM) Amnesty Clinics, which have been taking place across the country since earlier this year.

Several senators rose in support of the bill, including Senator Kevin Herrera, who is the representative for the Belize Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Belize Business Bureau. Hon. Hererra stated that he feels granting amnesty is the “civil thing to do.”

“We’re certainly in support of the bill, Madame President. I think that it’s a good initiative, given that so many people from neighboring countries, as well as countries from other parts of the world; you know, those people live here, they work here, they’ve settled, they’re grounded here in one way or the other,” he said.

Hon. Herrera also recommended that the bill put emphasis on bringing in persons with special skills that can serve to benefit the country.

The Belizean Nationality Amendment Bill 2022 was first tabled in the House of Representatives on Friday, June 3. An article in the Tuesday, June 7th issue of AMANDALA noted that, according to Prime Minister Hon. John Briceño, the Amnesty program will not officially begin until the amendment has been passed and accompanying regulations are issued. The Prime Minister had also noted that before the next two readings of the bill, there would be ample debate and consultations.