Trinidad & Tobago deports Venezuelan women and children as matter of ‘national security’ · Global Voices
A group of Venezuelan asylum-seekers including 16 children arrive for the second time on Trinidad soil, on November 24, 2020, due to a court order requiring them to appear at a habeas corpus hearing. Screenshot taken from a Trinidad and Tobago Newsday video of the landing, which was posted to the newspaper's YouTube channel.
The Trinidad and Tobago blogosphere has been in a heated discussion over the country's deportation of 16 Venezuelan minors and 11 adults — including nine women — who were reportedly sent away shortly before the group was supposed to have a habeas corpus hearing carded for 2 p.m. on November 22. It's a move that Minister of National Security <PERSON> has defended as part of his remit to protect the country.
After concerns that the vessels carrying them back to Venezuela could not be located and Venezuela's self-declared interim president <PERSON> describing Trinidad and Tobago's actions as “cruel, painful and inhumane,” not only has the group been found, but a Trinidadian judge, Justice <PERSON>, has ordered that the state return them to Trinidad for their court hearing.
The asylum-seekers returned to Trinidad shores on November 24, where they were greeted by relatives who reside on the island:
No words. None. https://t.co/8TiIW2hGBq
— <PERSON> (@wgibbings) November 24, 2020
The issue was first brought to public attention by attorney <PERSON>, who resigned as deputy political leader of the governing People's National Movement (PNM) mere weeks before Trinidad and Tobago's general election on August 10.
<PERSON> says the group was initially arrested on November 17 in south Trinidad, which lies about 11 kilometres north of Venezuela. The South American country's continuing political and socioeconomic crisis has forced thousands of asylum-seekers into Trinidad and Tobago.
In this particular case, however, there were concerns for the well-being of the children especially, which prompted <PERSON> to send correspondence to the chief immigration officer asking for dialogue. 957
Although birth certificates and other relevant documentation were reportedly submitted to the country's immigration division, they were not accepted. Upon learning that deportation was imminent, <PERSON> succeeded in having the court hearing moved up, but to no avail. She has since suggested that the state's actions in this regard were in breach of its international obligations and wants an investigation to be launched into the matter.
<PERSON>, Trinidad and Tobago's minister of national security, held a press conference on November 24, to address the situation and “send some very strong signals” regarding the nation's safety and the laws that have been put in place to ensure it.
Framing his comments against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, <PERSON> noted that Trinidad and Tobago's borders are closed to both nationals and non-nationals, and have been since March 17, soon after the country recorded its index case of the virus. Anyone who wishes to enter the country while the border closure remains in effect must get clearance from the minister himself.
Given these parameters, <PERSON> continued, the Venezuelans in question were in breach of Trinidad and Tobago's immigration laws, health regulations, and government policy. <PERSON> insists, however, that members of the group who were deported all tested negative for COVID-19.
Stressing that the government “cannot be legitimately and justifiably accused” of dealing with non-national migration issues without a humanitarian pillar, <PERSON> reiterated:
It is not up to any one person — in a democracy, it doesn't operate like that. It's not up to lawyers, it's not up to courts, it's not up to anyone to just change the law according to how they feel. This government has always approached the issue of non-national migration with a balance that includes the humanitarian aspect.
At the beginning of 2019, however, even as Caribbean nations were attempting to engage in decisive international diplomacy regarding Venezuela’s political impasse, Trinidad and Tobago seemed reticent to label it a humanitarian crisis, opting instead to echo the Caribbean Community's (CARICOM) diplomatic position of “non-interference and non-intervention.”
By June of that year, the Trinidad and Tobago government did make good on its promise to regularise Venezuelan asylum-seekers. Many of the conditions and privileges associated with this registration process have since been extended past the initial year-long limit, all of which <PERSON> cites as proof of his government's consideration of the humanitarian angle, though it remains unclear what is to happen once the extension is up.
International agencies have not always agreed that the Trinidad and Tobago government has acted in humanitarian ways. 892