First they fingerprinted the Haitians,
and you did not speak up because you were not a Haitian.
Then they fingerprinted the Dominicans,
and you did not speak up because you were not a Dominican.
Then they fingerprinted the Filipinos,
and you did not speak up because you were not a Filipino.
Then they fingerprinted you,
and there was no one left to speak up for you.

[My version of a poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller]

Civil libertarians and human rights activists are expressing grave concerns about a new fingerprinting policy the government of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) implemented last week. This measure makes it mandatory for all persons seeking work permits, renewal of permits and residency permits to be fingerprinted.

The government insists that the primary benefit of having this new database is to enable the police to easily identify fingerprints left at the increasing number of crime scenes throughout the islands. It also cited an Orwellian need "to keep accurate information on residents" as our population (of 35,000) increases.

Yet, mindful of its controversial nature, RTCP press liaison officer, Sergeant Calvin Chase, attempted to preempt criticism by asserting that the TCI is merely emulating the U.S. and other countries by using fingerprinting as "a proper processing service... to know who is in the island (sic)." Fair enough...

Except that legal scholars inform me that this Orwellian policy violates both international human rights and the TCI Constitution ("Article 1 probably also Article 8"). Never mind that if the U.S. government can commit human rights abuses with impunity - in violation of international law and its own Constitution, then the TCI government could be forgiven for feeling self-righteous in doing the same.

(For example, consider the abuses the U.S. reportedly committed at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, as well as its inhumane detention of "suspect" immigrants and fingerprinting of not only people seeking residency and work permits but even of tourists simply visiting the U.S.)

But Sgt. Chase must know better than any politician that this procedure will do nothing to reduce or combat crime. After all, it's TCIslanders who commit the majority of crimes, not those who need residency or work permits. In fact, the non-citizens this measure targets are invariably the most law abiding amongst us. No doubt because they live in constant fear of doing anything that might cause their residency or work permits to be revoked.

Therefore, this begs two questions:

1.
Why doesn't the government fingerprint TCIslanders as well?
2.
What is the real reason it implemented this fingerprinting policy?

And I submit that the answer to both questions has everything to do with the public rebellion that erupted two weeks ago. That's when the government brazenly attempted to impose a battery of new taxes upon TCIslanders to compensate for mismanaging (and allegedly misappropriating) national resources and funds.

After all, a tax rebellion like this one had not been seen since American colonists protested the British attempt to impose onerous taxes upon them; which, of course, was the proximate cause of the American Revolution. And, appreciating this forbidding precedent, TCI officials retreated hastily by rescinding two of the more vexing taxes (i.e., steep increases in airport departure and accommodation taxes).

Unfortunately, their desperate need to raise new revenues remained acute, and the full scope of their failed economic policies became manifest.

So, with increasing taxes on TCIslanders politically untenable, they resorted to scapegoating and exploiting these non-citizens. Specifically, the $65 fingerprinting fee they're charging should raise millions to help replenish their bankrupt coffers; which clearly makes this new policy nothing more than a quick-cash scheme.

Meanwhile, to my fellow TCIslanders - who take comfort from the fact that this tax is not being levied against you - beware! Because, just as it is with the work-permit fee, those of you who employ these non-citizens may soon be required to pay their fingerprinting fees as well.

To his enabling ministers...

First he pillaged the country,
and you did not speak up because you got your share.
Then he silenced the press,
and you did not speak up because you did not care.
Then he raped a woman?
and you did not speak up because you did not dare.
Then he screwed you, his ministers,
and there was no one left to speak up for you.