Prime Minister Gaston Browne and President Donald Trump
Prime Minister Gaston Browne has written directly to United States President Donald Trump, asking his administration to review visa restrictions and new visa bond measures affecting nationals of Antigua and Barbuda.
The latest diplomatic push follows the publication by the U.S. Department of State of a Final Rule establishing a permanent Visa Bond Program.
Alongside Browne’s letter to President Trump, the Antigua and Barbuda Embassy in Washington, D.C., has submitted a formal Diplomatic Note to the U.S. Department of State for the attention of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also seeking an early review of the country’s inclusion in the measures.
The Browne administration is arguing that Antigua and Barbuda has already taken substantial steps to address the concerns identified by Washington.
According to the government, the U.S. State Department has described the Visa Bond Program as a diplomatic tool intended to encourage countries to strengthen information sharing, identity verification, screening and vetting, document security and compliance with immigration requirements.
Antigua and Barbuda maintains that it has responded constructively to those objectives.
Among the measures highlighted in the representations to Washington are legislative changes strengthening residency requirements under Antigua and Barbuda’s Citizenship by Investment Programme and the establishment of biometric cooperation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to improve identity verification and screening.
The government also pointed to what it described as continued full cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in accepting the prompt return of Antiguan and Barbudan nationals who are lawfully removed from the United States.
Additionally, Antigua and Barbuda has signalled its willingness to cooperate with Washington on the issue of Third-Country Nationals, within the limits of the country’s capacity.
The government is also relying on the country’s immigration record as part of its case for reconsideration.
It said Antigua and Barbuda has historically maintained a U.S. visa overstay rate of just over one per cent and noted that no Antiguan and Barbudan citizen has sought refugee status in the United States.
Browne further highlighted the longstanding relationship between St. John’s and Washington, particularly cooperation in regional security, combating illicit narcotics trafficking and transnational organised crime, intelligence sharing and immigration matters.
The Prime Minister argued that Antigua and Barbuda has consistently responded to concerns raised by successive U.S. administrations and believes the objectives identified by Washington have now been substantially achieved.
As a result, the government is asking the Trump administration to reassess Antigua and Barbuda’s continued inclusion in the visa restrictions and Visa Bond Program based on the steps the country has taken.
“The Government’s objective is not confrontation,” Browne said.
“It is to ensure that decisions affecting the people of Antigua and Barbuda are based upon accurate information and upon the substantial steps our country has taken in close cooperation with the United States to address every legitimate concern that has been raised. We believe the time is now right for a review.”
The government said it remains committed to strengthening Antigua and Barbuda’s longstanding partnership with the United States and continuing engagement with the Trump administration on matters of mutual interest and security.
Hopefully the discussions lead to a fair outcome for Antigua and Barbuda. 🤝
The land of the free continues to step on the necks of SIDS showing superiority. Imagine all of this to a country with a miniscule overstay rate…there is something else going on
Boy Gaston I beg you do not take that bait!!
Just leave it alone Antigua and Barbuda is a sovereign twin island state we will rise above this.
Do not let them bait you into compromising this small island national security.
Gaston you already know what they want from us, it did not make any sense yesterday, it doesn’t make any sense today and it most definitely won’t make any sense tomorrow.
Please I beg you do not respond to trump just this one time.
Sometimes you just ignore these people
It is naive, perhaps even delusional and outright asinine, to believe that the visa restrictions and the Visas Bond Program are diplomatic initiatives that can be placated through diplomatic channels. The motives underlying these initiatives are inseparable from the larger and more insidious and deceitful goals of (a) reducing the Third World immigration to, and population in, the United States; (b) extracting maximum concessions from, and infringing upon the sovereignty, of non-compliant states under the guise of diplomacy, information sharing, document security, etc.; and (c) launching a new era of the Monroe Doctrine by reducing states with the U.S.’s geographic sphere of influence to vassal states. Much of the information the Prime Minister proffers as reasons for the U.S. to revisit the visa restrictions and bond program is already known to and in the possession of the U.S. State Department, and repeating them in a formal letter is more likely to appear as grovelling, smack of desperation and prompt even more outrageous demands by the U.S. than to move the Trump Administration to revisit, let alone relax, the visa restrictions and bond program with respect to Antigua & Barbuda. If anything, the entire saga demonstrates just how specious claims of national sovereignty are; how powerless and vulnerable small states are to large state power politics and Machiavellian diplomacy; and how ineffective the bravado and bluster of local politicians are in safeguarding the sovereignty and dignity of a small nation. Accession to the U.S. requests may ultimately be sold to the domestic audience in Antigua & Barbuda as a reasonable diplomatic settlement or agreement, but make no mistake: in reality, it will be a surrender.