Belize’s newest citizens take oath of allegiance

In the run up to elections in February we heard a lot about large numbers of immigrants lined up to receive Belizean nationality presumably to be followed by voters cards. But, as News Five’s Kendra Griffith reports, the road to citizenship is heavily travelled all year round.

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
On Wednesday, Supreme Court Commissioner Justo Castillo, administered the oath of allegiance to one hundred and seventy-nine new Belizeans, the final step along their road to citizenship.

Gareth Murillo, Director of Immigration
“There are two such criterias, one is being married to a Belizean citizen and the second is being in Belize for five years immediately preceding the application for citizenship. In an average year we would get anywhere around twelve to fifteen hundred applications.”

After their oath, the men and women were called up one by one to receive their certificate of nationality. These latest citizens hail from seventeen countries across the globe and they’ve each got their own reasons why they chose Belize as their new home.

Dr. Kenneth Maddis, Sworn in as Citizen
“I have been living in Belize for a number of years now and it’s become home to me and I want to throw my lot in with the Belizean people and work hard to make the country better.”

Kendra Griffith
“Where are you from?”

Dr. Kenneth Maddis
“Originally from New York in the United States.”

Kendra Griffith
“So how did you hear about our country?”

Dr. Kenneth Maddis
“I studied marine biology for years and this is one of the greatest places in the world to work on tropical coral reef biology.”

Girish Nagrani, Sworn in as Citizen
“I’ve come into Belize to open a business in the Free Zone and thanks God the business is doing well and we intend to settle down in Belize with our children. Our children are learning the Belizean culture and we are proud of being Belizeans today.”

Francisca Sanchez and her husband Juan were two of the five Nicaraguans in the group. Twelve years ago they came to Belize for their honeymoon and decided it was a good place to live.

Juan Sanchez, Sworn in as Citizen (Translated)
“I feel very happy because I have been waiting for this a long time so I could legally be in this country.”

Francisca Sanchez, Sworn in as Citizen (Translated)
“This is a country that offers many things that our country does not offer, for example a good education for our daughter.”

Carlos Perdomo, Minister of National Security
“You are all Belizeans now, so I want you to shake hands with everybody around you.”

Gareth Murillo
“Our statistics have shown us that the majority come from the countries around us, the Central American countries, but we have seen recently from Africa, from Asia, even from as far from Australia. It’s very varied.”

Seventy-four percent of the new citizens hail from four Central American countries: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. For Minister of National Security Carlos Perdomo, the trend and the presence of immigrants who are not legal is a fact of life.

Carlos Perdomo
“Once you begin to have a good reputation as a peaceful country, as a democratic country and once you begin to have families that are accepted as new Belizeans, this will spread and so while the illegal immigration issue is always an issue that we have to deal with, it is something that comes naturally when you are very close to other countries, when your borders are not as tight as they could be and its not only unique to Belize.”

Perdomo says they will, however, be taking a close look at the current immigration policies with an eye to modernisation.

Carlos Perdomo
“We are beginning to attract many, different people and sometimes the immigration regulations treat different nationalities differently so we have to look at that. We have to look at how we deal with the issues of cross-border movement of people. We need to strengthen the immigration laws to protect people from the trafficking of persons. We need to perhaps look at the regulations that empower immigration officers and we also need to look at the internal workings of the Immigration Department in its fullest extent.”

The swearing-in ceremony was the first for the new U.D.P. government. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.

In the last year Belize welcomed sixteen hundred new citizens. The swearing in ceremonies are typically held every month.