AN estimated 200 migrants were detained yesterday morning during a police exercise in St James.
In what was described as a joint National Security exercise, as it included members from the Police Service, the Defence Force, and the Immigration Division, around 1.30 a.m. yesterday officials visited a bar along the Western Main Road in St James.
There they encountered several Spanish-speaking nationals.
The officers cordoned off the area and proceeded to check the registration status of all persons who were in attendance at the event.
The Express was told that in total just under 200 people between the ages of 17 and 46 were detained after they failed to provide proof of legal entry and legal status in this country.
About six buses were used to convey them from the bar into the care of the State.
Trinidad-based Venezuelan activist Yesenia Gonzalez said she was saddened by the news of the operation.
“Most of the people who were detained, from my information are asylum seekers who are in this country in transit to places like Canada. I understand that the State has a job to do, and that the operations will be hard to determine legal statuses and so forth. But things like this break my heart. People who are not breaking any other laws are being arrested and detained, and most likely deported. Meanwhile, from what the news is saying, we have 300 murders in this country. You can see home invasions and robberies on the rise. Where were these officers and the six buses that they arrived with when these incidents are being reported and recorded? Is it that the State and the police think that migrants are the only ones responsible for the crime? Because it just feels targeted. Again. I know it’s a process. And every country has to go through its processes to ensure that laws are followed,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales added, “Some of them, I am told, went out without their (migrant registration) cards and were detained. They have the cards, but they were arrested because they could not produce it at the time.”
Attorney-at-law Criston J Williams, who heads Quantum Legal, described the joint operation as “an act of refoulement” (repatriation).
He said while it is understandable that the Ministry of National Security may wish to detain “illegal immigrants”. The problem arises when many of them possess identification from the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). As far as I am concerned, the raid and subsequent detention, and possible ‘repatriation’ of those detained can be calculated as an act of refoulement.”
“To my knowledge, there is no law mandating that registration cards need to be on a person at all times. But you should be able to produce it when asked,” Williams said.
Last Tuesday during his ruling on the judicial review and constitutional claim of Venezuelan national Yohan Jesus Rangel Dominguez, who challenged a deportation order the Ministry of National Security issued in March, Justice Frank Seepersad said obligations under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the principles of non-refoulement do not apply to Trinidad and Tobago, as they were not incorporated in domestic law.
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Sources:Alexander Bruzual , Express , Jul 10, 2023. 200 migrants held in raid