GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, CMC – Former premier of the Cayman Islands McKeeva Bush has called on new expats to either “integrate or evacuate” this British overseas territory.
During a press conference earlier this week to launch a new political non-profit organization, the veteran politician said a growing “trend of people coming to our shores and want nothing to do with many native Caymanians.”
He said the territory’s past immigration was successful because people integrated into the local community, but the behavior now was un-Caymanian.
He said things are changing with a growing population and rapid increase in newcomers not mixing into the community, causing division. According to Bush, the government needs to find a new way of allowing people to secure residency rights. At the same time, they live and work here, but in the future, Caymanian status should be reserved for the descendants of Caymanians and those who marry Caymanians.
“Our islands are too small for this kind of segregated mentality, and I can tell you that history is rife with many countries that went that route, and the division in their schools, their workplace, their supermarkets, and even their churches have created a social disharmony,” he said.
“To those who do not want to integrate and be a part of this community, that behavior is un-Caymanian, and I ask you to stop it. We don’t want our small islands to go down that route. Simply put, integrate or evacuate,” Bush added.
Launching his new non-profit organization ahead of his plans for re-election, the former premier, now a parliamentary secretary in the ministry responsible for immigration and labor, said that in previous years, many people came here from overseas but integrated into the community, becoming part of its fabric.
Bush is infamous for the controversial mass status grants given to thousands of people in 2003. These grants were made possible by the huge number of individuals who had been living in Cayman for decades with no residency rights of any kind.
He said he knew he was vilified for that, explaining that some 16,000 people at the time “needed fixing” in terms of their immigration status. Immigration had been necessary to build modern Cayman, he said, and when the status grants were made, it was a result of decades of people coming to live, work, and settle here without any rights, which had to be addressed.
“The growth we saw in the 1970s to the early 2000s was necessary to build the Cayman we have today. We have now reached a point where the population is growing faster than the opportunities that were previously available, so much so that too many people are being left behind,” Bush said.
“This is a recipe for social disharmony, and we need to slow down the population explosion, as our infrastructure and opportunities are not growing fast enough to accommodate this growth.”
Bush argued that he had never been anti-growth or anti-development, but there was a time and place for everything. “People are saying the time is now to limit the grant of Caymanian status to descent or marriage and find a different form of belongership to our island nation. Any grants outside of that need to be looked at carefully to ensure we leave something for the next generation.”
Calling for a more balanced approach to immigration, Bush indicated that the government should be more careful with permit applications because the Cayman Islands cannot accommodate everyone.
Bush said the country must do a better job of building institutions that will serve, protect, and prepare the Cayman Islands people for the challenges they are now facing and will continue to face.
“We need to put our differences aside, live better with each other, and rebuild a community that creates opportunity for our people where we can once again share and care for each other,” he said.
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