“The reality is if there is an opportunity for us to get workers through this Third Country National programme from the United States I have no difficulty in taking those workers.”

This is the strongest hint given yet from Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell that his National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration is leaning in the direction of accepting a proposal put forward by the Donald Trump government in Washington on accepting nationals from Third countries who will be deported from the United States.

In an interview with “THE NARRATIVE” programme hosted by long standing journalist Calistra Farrier, the Prime Minister said his three-and-a-half year old government will not accept criminal deportees but would be more inclined to accept persons without a criminal track record but who possess a skill that is needed on the island.

He said the government has not signed onto any Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the issue as has already been done by several member states of the sub-regional grouping known as the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

“We have not yet signed – we are considering. We have not signed on to any such MOU and if we get to that point then obviously, we would publicly indicate that to the public,” he said.

“We are in discussion – those discussions are ongoing …once the Cabinet reaches a decision on the matter, we will communicate that decision prior to the signing or execution of any such agreement,” he added.

According to the Prime Minister, the U.S government had approached Grenada on the issue over a year ago and St George’s had declined the offer back then.

“Those requests have been repeated – we are engaged in extensive back and forth over what that means and the form of MOU that has been in a sense considered is a non-binding MOU to take what is called Third Country Nationals – meaning they are not nationals of the United States and they are not nationals of Grenada,” he said.

Asked under what conditions Grenada will accept Third Country Nationals (TCN), the Prime Minister said: “…We see this as a potential opportunity – we have some significant labour constraints in Grenada. We have a labour shortage in the Construction industry … it’s chronic in Agriculture and to some extent in the Hospitality sector.”

“Farmers don’t have people to work on their farms – that’s the facts –they can’t get people. If you go on the construction sites now, Contractors are telling you they can’t get labourers – and am not talking about big contractors – even the small contractors are telling you that. Some of the hotels are complaining they still can’t find labour.”

“So we view this as a potential opportunity for us to see whether there is an opportunity for us … if we are going to accept, accept primarily persons who are workers, persons of working age. So some of the conditions (the person) would have to be probably between eighteen and fifty – you would have to have no serious criminal infraction.”

Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell stated that he suspected most of the persons facing deportation would have merely violated U.S immigration laws by overstaying their time in the country or had illegally entered the country.

“As much as possible we would want to target persons who have the capacity to work and who probably have the skillset that we have shortage in,” he said.

He outlined another condition under which Grenada would accept TCN is the cost of relocation of these persons.

“We would certainly want to ensure that the U.S underwrites the cost associated with that,” he remarked.

The Prime Minister disclosed that Grenada did inform Washington in the discussions that it was “interested in exploring the possibilities of getting workers under the TCN programme but the U.S government indicated that it wanted St George’s to sign onto just a basic framework agreement for the time being that it was prepared to accept these people.

“What they said is that the detailed operative conditions they wish to negotiate on a separate actual agreement.”

According to PM Dickon Mitchell, the Grenada MOU and the others that he has seen do have a clause indicating that the countries can refuse the U.S request “and that will be the end of the matter.”

He said the OECS countries have agreed in the interest of saving time and effort in the deliberations with Washington and to make sure there is consistency that they would put together a team that will negotiate with the U.S on this matter.

“I can certainly say and I think all of us in the OECS are clear on that – if they are criminals outside of the Immigration violation laws have committed acts of crime like that, we are not going to take them because obviously the risk is simply not worth it,” he said.

He is confident that if the situation is handled properly and in the right way, he can get Grenadians to buy into the arrangement.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that the U.S administration can attempt to pressure countries to accept TCN but the ultimate decision will have to be made by the countries themselves.