Former Assistant Commissioner of Police Nuffield Burnette is warning that Antigua and Barbuda lacks the capacity to receive third-country deportees from the United States, cautioning that existing crime and policing pressures would only worsen under the proposed arrangement.
According to Antigua News Room, Burnette made the remarks during a United Progressive Party town hall meeting focused on the government's White Paper. He described the proposal as "potentially complex" and questioned why Antigua and Barbuda would take on additional responsibilities given the current strain on its law enforcement system.
"If it is that law enforcement are not coping normally, domestically, so to speak, what about a situation led by the White Paper?" Burnette said. "We have to say to the powers that be, while we have a chance, that we are not in favor of what we see coming potentially."
Burnette challenged the widespread perception that Antigua and Barbuda ranks among the safest countries in the Caribbean. He argued that measuring safety by homicide rates alone overlooks the prevalence of violent home invasions and other crimes that inflict lasting trauma on victims.
He pointed to a series of home invasion killings carried out by young offenders several years ago as evidence that the country's public safety challenges are more serious than official comparisons with neighboring states suggest.
"Nothing is more traumatizing than crimes to do with home invasion," Burnette said. "Our house is our castle, and if people are invading homes and sexually molesting persons within the four walls of that sanctity, then we have a serious problem."
The retired senior officer also cast doubt on the reliability of official crime statistics, arguing that many incidents go unreported and that figures presented to the public do not always reflect reality.
"I deliberately did not come here tonight with any stats," he said. "The stats are not accurate. Persons do not report everything, and what is presented to the public does not always reflect the true state of crime."
Burnette was equally critical of the Royal Police Force's capacity to respond to existing criminal activity, citing delayed response times, leadership shortcomings and declining overall performance.
"We are not coping properly with the state of affairs as it relates to crime in Antigua and Barbuda," he said. "Police do not respond in a timely manner, sometimes do not respond at all, and other times are downright tardy."
Against that backdrop, Burnette argued that accepting third-country deportees would introduce additional complexities the country is ill-equipped to manage. He noted that the White Paper references categories of people including asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons, yet Antigua and Barbuda has no legislation specifically designed to accommodate them.
"Our laws do not make provision to accommodate any of it," Burnette said. "That is the frightening part that really jumped out at me."
Burnette called for broad national discussion before any decisions are made, describing the issue as one with significant implications for public safety and law enforcement.
