They complain bitterly about what they see as a spike in crime caused by Guyanese and Jamaicans. They blast ''foreigners'' flooding their schools and hospitals.

In Antigua and other places in the English-speaking Caribbean, anti-immigrant hostilities are rising rapidly as leaders move closer to a 2015 deadline that would allow complete movement of certain people from one island to another.

Caribbean nationals worry that the plan would reduce education, healthcare and other benefits in wealthier islands. There are also concerns that it would reduce jobs and raise housing prices throughout the region.

''It just hurts my heart,'' one perturbed caller said on Observer Radio.

Now, after decades of pushing for total integration and free access throughout the dozens of Caribbean islands, leaders are facing a pressing dilemma while trying to create a single regional economy built around the free movement of skills, labor, goods and services.

Leaders from the 15-member Caribbean Community -- CARICOM, for short -- recently admitted that they may not be able to meet the 2015 deadline for establishing a single economy in the region -- similar to the European Union.

For example, leaders made an agreement last year to grant an automatic six-month stay to nationals entering a member country -- provided there are no security concerns. But only a handful of countries have bothered to comply with their own rule.

Such lack of action has critics questioning the Caribbean leaders' commitment to full integration.

''Given the c****ative nature of Caribbean politics, regional decisions often become hostage to domestic politics,'' said Anthony Bryan of Miami, a senior associate with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

``There is no super national authority with enforcement power or power to implement decisions, so CARICOM's decisions are impotent, not implemented or are soon forgotten.''

There is much fear of the unknown, which has bred discrimination and humiliation as some nationals try to visit other countries in the region.

Discussions for a unified Caribbean region began in the 1950s, with the hope that, among other things, such a plan would stem the alarming exodus of educated workers to industrialized nations like the United States.

According to a 2005 World Bank study, more than 80 percent of college-educated workers from Guyana, Jamaica and Haiti emigrate elsewhere to seek a better life.

STRONG CRITIC

President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of the intolerance and embarra**ment some nationals face when visiting other countries.

''For you to have a single economy, free movement of people is essential,'' Jagdeo said.

Earlier this year, Guyana requested an investigation after immigration officers in oil-rich Trinidad and Tobago refused to allow 15 Guyanese to enter the twin-island nation.

In Barbados, female immigration officials have been accused of turning back attractive Guyanese women out of concern that they will lure away the men on the island.

And in the Bahamas, where tensions against Haitian migrants have constantly run high, government officials decided against joining the free-movement arrangement, citing a concern that Haitians will flood the archipelago seeking to improve their lives.

''One of the most tragic truths is that we treat foreigners better than we treat our own people,'' Jagdeo said, referring to the hospitality shown to non-Caribbean visitors.

TAKES TIME

But some leaders say it takes time for new laws to catch on and old fears to die out.

''When you pass laws and you make decisions, it takes a little while,'' said Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

''All countries experience the problem,'' Gonsalves said.

But some countries -- notably Guyana and Jamaica, because they are among the poorest in the region -- are having the most trouble.

''Let us be honest and call a spade a spade,'' Gonsalves said. ``In a number of countries, people are not so much worried about Vicentians, Dominicans or Antiguans. In part, there are not so many of us.''

To help get around immigration officers, leaders have agreed to issue a CARICOM Travel Card called CARIPASS, which they say will provide hassle-free travel.

''You don't have to go to any immigration officer, so you don't meet any prejudices from any immigration officer,'' Gonsalves said. ``You swipe your card and you go in for your period of time.''

The cards, which would be valid for up to three years, would require prior security clearance and cost about $100.

But while the immigration card is a good start, critics say leaders have sent contradictory messages as they talk of the need to keep skilled individuals in the region.

To succeed with regional integration, Caribbean leaders must overhaul the way they do business, said Bryan, who was born in Trinidad.

Leaders say they are committed to the integration but need more time to prepare.

''As developed as Barbados is, we do not have the capacity to implement freedom of movement fully at this stage,'' Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson said. ``Nor do we have the capacity to absorb everybody who wants to come to Barbados and offer them the standard of living that Barbadians enjoy.''

Critics say such excuses are just a way for leaders to maintain control over whom they allow into the country -- and to win elections.

POLITICS FIRST

''There is a c**kfight every five years, and politicians go out,'' said George Lamming, a noted Caribbean novelist and intellectual, referring to the election cycle.

``The raison d'tre of being in politics is not the organization of social relations. The raison d'tre is to win that election at all costs.''

Lamming, a visiting professor at Brown University in Rhode Island, holds little hope that a solution will be found soon. It's a job for the next generation to solve, he said.

''The concept of Caribbean as a specific and unique cultural identity has to be planted as a lesson, one with children learning their alphabet, with the toys they use and with the games they play,'' he said.

``It is that form of absolute indoctrination which we need in order to produce, in another 20 or 30 years, the kind of Caribbean people we are.''