Young: Illegal Venezuelan migrants legally deported

MINISTER of National Security Stuart Young said recent deportations of illegal migrants back to Venezuela were all done in keeping with the laws of TT and legal due process. He was speaking at Wednesday’s post-Cabinet briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.

While respecting the role of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Young said a mere receipt issued to a migrant by the UNHCR for an asylum application will not trump TT’s laws. He later said TT has no domestic legislation to allow anyone refugee status.

Young said people have constantly cried out to the Government to secure TT’s borders, and during a pandemic like covid19 its duty is to protect the population. Illegal immigrants are breaching the Immigration Act, the requirement for Venezuelans to have a visa to enter TT, and TT’s covid19 regulations. “So the State’s policy is very clear in those circumstances. If persons are held in those circumstances they are detained and then repatriated to Venezuela.

“Recently some lawyers have thought it advisable – and they are entitled to – to go to court to get mixed up in this whole system. We have actually had some very counter-productive orders and decisions being made."

Young said during this global pandemic, illegal immigrants held at the Chaguaramas heliport are being tested for covid19.

“We have had instances, while we are attempting to protect the population of TT and quarantine persons, of lawyers going to court, the State not being represented because they are being heard ex parte, applications being made, persons being released, and afterwards we get test results that these persons are positive for covid.

"And of course, by now they have gone out (into) the population.”

He said having entered TT illegally, no proper record was kept of them and no one knew where they had ended up.

“So we are doing all we have to do to minimise these risks to the population and we will continue to do so.”

Young said every step was done fully in line with the law, as advised by senior counsel and immigration staff.

He wondered how attorneys were getting instructions to represent people picked up entering TT illegally and taken straight at the heliport. “To my legal mind, that bothers me.” He assured the migrants were treated with dignity, but said he must protect TT’s borders. Young later said the number of covid-positive illegal immigrants detected had been "a very, very small number."