As the cost of accommodating and repatriating Cuban asylum seekers looks likely to reach nearly $3 million this year, lawmakers in Cayman are amending legislation that will speed up the processing of their applications.
Amid fears that the rising numbers of Cubans arriving by boat illegally in Cayman might reach 1994 levels – when 1,183 arrived – if the influx remains unchecked, the Cayman Islands government says it is seeking to take steps to stem the flow and to send unsuccessful refugee-status applicants back home faster.
The average time that an asylum seeker, whose application is ultimately denied, spends in Cayman is nine months, lawmakers heard during a debate on a bill to amend the Customs and Border Control Act.
According to Border Control Minister Chris Saunders, since April this year 353 unauthorised individuals had entered Cayman, including around 100 in October alone. As of Monday morning, 12 Dec., 350 asylum seekers were on island, with their applications being in various stages of processing, he said.
Saunders, who presented the bill to amend the law to Parliament, said government officials in Cayman had been in talks last week with the Cuban government about the “crisis”.
Over the past five years, irregular migration from Cuba had slowed to a “trickle”, Saunders said, with between one and five people a year arriving. However, that “relative calm” came to an end this year when numbers quickly began to grow, as the island’s economic situation worsened, driven by the pandemic, the Russian-Ukranian war and the effects of Hurricane Ian.
There are now almost daily arrivals. In fact, shortly after the debate on Monday evening, seven more individuals arrived by boat at the south side of Cayman Brac.
Saunders said the “significant increase in arrivals is putting a severe strain on Customs and Border Control”, both on Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac.
Following the debate Monday, legislators passed a second reading of the bill, which will now go to committee stage and onto a third and final reading. In most cases, the passage of the second reading equates to the passing of a bill.
Cost to government
The financial implications were also concerning, he said, as he noted that the cost to Cayman from January to October this year was slightly over $1.6 million; and it was expected that another $1.3 million would be needed to pay for the accommodation, processing and repatriation expenses for November and December.
He added that supplementary appropriations would be needed in order to meet the total $2.9 million bill.
Saunders noted that almost all those who arrive here by boat apply for asylum, and if they are refused, they appeal the decision. Then, there is a further wait for approval from Cuba for the repatriation of those individuals.
This means that the average length of stay for an unsuccessful asylum seeker in Cayman is nine months, he said, at a cost of $1,300 each per month, or a total cost of $11,700 per person from the time of their arrival to their repatriation.
This does not include the cost of inter-island travel, if they arrive on Cayman Brac, or the cost of the air transfer back to Cuba, which often includes the chartering of a Cayman Airways plane.
Fear of persecution
Saunders explained that the changes to the legislation would act “as a deterrent to those who may contemplate seeking refuge in the Cayman Islands, even though they are not fleeing persecution”.
Attorney General Samuel Bulgin, stating that while some arriving in Cayman did have a genuine fear of persecution in their home country, others were “abusing the generosity of Cayman and its people”, and therefore applicants for asylum will now be required to demonstrate “a much higher standard of proof in order to be able to qualify for asylum”.
Under the amended legislation, the CBC director can determine if there is a “reasonable likelihood” that an asylum seeker, if repatriated, would face persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
The director also will be empowered to refuse an application from an asylum seeker if the director feels it is without substance, after which the application is certified as “clearly unfounded”.
The asylum seeker whose application has been designated as being based on unfounded reasons, would then be repatriated without an option to appeal the director’s decision to the Refugee Protection Appeals Tribunal.
Saunders said this provision was being put in place to prevent people using the appeals process to remain in Cayman for longer.
In these instances, the applicant can choose to pursue the matter through the Grand Court by way of judicial review, he said.
In instances where an appeal is allowed, the individual must give the full grounds for the appeal when lodging it. The CBC will then have 14 days to lodge a written defence to the appeals tribunal, and once that is received the appeal can go ahead.
Bulgin explained that this provision had been added because there have been many occasions when the grounds for appeal that are mentioned at the start of the process, which now can take months, are entirely different from those that ultimately end up being heard by the tribunal members.
The bill also outlines grounds for when the CBC can consider abandoning an application for asylum, or appeal – for instance, if the applicant fails, without a valid reason, to attend an interview with an officer about the application.
The bill also enables the CBC director to delegate his powers to an officer of the rank of assistant director or above. Currently, the director is the only person empowered to refuse an asylum application.
Delegation of the director’s powers will mean that applications can be considered and processed in a more timely manner, Saunders said.
More appeal tribunal members
To speed up the appeals process, more members will be appointed to the Refugee Protection Appeals Tribunal.
This will enable the tribunal to have more than one division, and therefore will be able to hold simultaneous hearings. Each will be presided over by the chairperson or vice chairperson sitting with no fewer than two other members.
The legislation provides for Cabinet to appoint as many secretaries as it considers
necessary to the tribunal.
No more automatic indefinite leave
Individuals who have been successful in their asylum applications will no longer be allowed automatically to stay indefinitely in the Cayman Islands. Instead, they will be granted leave to remain in Cayman for three years in the first instance. Two years after being granted refugee status, they will have the option to apply for indefinite leave to remain here.
“If they still meet criteria for refugee status, they can apply for permission to remain. If they do not meet the criteria, they must leave,” Saunders said.
This provision has been put in place, he said, because of instances where Cuban applicants have been granted asylum on the grounds of fear of persecution in their home country but who then frequently return for visits to Cuba or to carry out business there on a regular basis.
Similar to the system being used in the UK, those who have been granted refugee status would have their situations reviewed on a periodic basis, Bulgin explained.
The changes to the legislation means Cayman’s overall methods of processing asylum applications, and the criteria it sets for granting or refusing asylum, now more closely mirrors the UK model.
Saunders assured that the new legislation will not impact applications already being processed. Only those applications received after the bill is enacted will be affected.
Ties to Cuba
In closing the debate, Saunders acknowledged the close ties between Cuba and Cayman and the contributions to the local society by Cuban nationals who had been granted asylum here over the decades. He said there was a great amount of sympathy from the people of Cayman for those who put their lives at risk by boarding small boats and crossing the open ocean to escape persecution or economic difficulties.
But, he said, “We’re still a small island. Our resources are limited. And as such, first and foremost, we owe responsibility to the people of the Cayman Islands. We can no longer allow for this issue in Cuba to continue to impact the Cayman Islands, on a financial burden that is now being felt, when the government needs these resources to care for its own people.”
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