UPDATE: Judge rules 26 Venezuelans not to be deported until case is decided

JADA LOUTOO

TWENTY-SIX Venezuelans – 16 children and ten adults – will not be deported while their challenge to the legality of their deportation is determined by a High Court judge.

The 26 are to be taken to the State’s quarantine facility at the heliport in Chaguaramas and were put under quarantine orders by the chief medical officer. The quarantine orders for the 26 were produced in court. They will be required to stay at the heliport for the next 14 days until the court makes a final determination on their status in Trinidad and Tobago.

The court ordered they should be taken there before 6 am on Thursday.

Justice Avason Quinlan-Williams gave the order just before 9.30 pm on Wednesday.

On Sunday she had ordered the State to bring the children and nine women to court in response to a writ of habeas corpus she approved.

Newsday understands that she also told the attorneys for the State to work on establishing a policy for asylum-seekers, since they could not approach the courts on a daily basis.

The judge said the issue was not one for the court to deal with, but for the executive. She said the issue of asylum-seekers must be dealt with, “as it is here with us.”

She advised attorneys for the Attorney General to go to their client and tell him he must come up with a policy to treat with “all these people.” She said the situation could not go on this way, with children being detained in jail-like facilities or police stations or separated from their parents.

Quinlan-Williams also asked why all the children couldn’t be quarantined at home with their parents. For most of them, at least one of their parents are UNHCR asylum-seeker card-holders or registered under government’s amnesty programme.

One of the children – a four-year-old boy with a heart condition –his sister and mother, who all came back in a pirogue on Tuesday, will be allowed to stay with their father in Marabella after their quarantine.

Attorneys for the Children’s Authority told the judge the father’s home had been inspected and was found to be suitable. The same is likely to apply for the others.

Assurances were given that the group will not be deported while the matter is before the courts. They will return to court at 7 pm on Thursday.

The hearing of the injunction application, which was filed along with a constitutional motion and another application for a writ of habeas corpus, began at 8.15 pm on Wednesday.

Before the hearing began, the judge asked about the presence of those accessing the virtual hearing. She allowed only legal representatives for the Children’s Authorities, those for the Venezuelans, and the various arms of the State.

Even Law Association president Douglas Mendes,SC, who said the association was served as an interested party, and other representatives from the association’s council, the media and several other attorneys were taken off the link.

Earlier on Wednesday, attorneys for the group, which includes 16 children, among them a four-month-old baby, filed an action in the High Court with the aim of preventing local authorities from sending them back again.

The action challenges the legality of their deportation. A certificate of urgency filed along with it says it is extremely urgent, since the State has “demonstrated the intention to seek to evade the jurisdiction of the court” by taking steps to have the Venezuelans deported.

They are also asking for an injunction preventing their removal from Trinidad and Tobago and for interim orders to release the minor children into their parents’ custody.

The claim also asked for an order for the State to determine the Venezuelans’ refugee status and decide if they are entitled to protection under the principle of family unity, as well as under the protections afforded under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees, the national policy to address refugees and asylum matters, and the laws of TT.

The group of 16 children, nine women, and at least two men returned to TT three days after they were put in two pirogues and returned to Venezuelan waters by the Coast Guard.

Just before 1 pm on Tuesday, the group came ashore again in a pirogue at Los Iros beach.

Shortly afterwards,  police arrived and took them to a nearby guesthouse, after which they were taken to the Siparia health facility. They are now being kept at the Erin police station.

On Sunday night, Quinlan-Williams ordered the Defence Force to produce the group of women and children on Monday in the writ of habeas corpus filed on their behalf.

But in court, the judge was told they were not in the custody of the Defence Force, since they had been taken to the maritime border between TT and Venezuela just before midday on Sunday.

Quinlan-Williams was told she could make no order for their return, since they were out of TT’s and hence the court’s jurisdiction.

Below is the original version of this story:

Lawyers for Venezuelan deportees in court on Wednesday night

THE hearing of the injunction application filed on behalf of a group of Venezuelan migrants who returned to Trinidad on Tuesday, after being deported on Sunday, began at about 8.15 pm on Wednesday.

However, the Law Association, media and some attorneys were taken off the link to the virtual hearing.

Justice Avason Quinlan-Williams enquired about the presence of some parties, one of whom was Law Association president Douglas Mendes, SC, who said the association was served with the proceedings as an interested party.

The judge also asked about the Children’s Authority and the legal representatives for the State. Everyone else was asked to leave and members of the media present were removed from the virtual hearing.

Earlier on Wednesday, attorneys for the group, which includes 16 children, among them a four-month-old baby, filed an action in the High Court with the aim of preventing local authorities from sending them back again.

The action challenges the legality of their deportation. A certificate of urgency filed along with it says it is extremely urgent, since the State has “demonstrated the intention to seek to evade the jurisdiction of the court” by taking steps to have the Venezuelans deported.

They are also asking for an injunction preventing their removal from Trinidad and Tobago and for interim orders to release the minor children into their parents’ custody.

The claim also asks for an order for the State to determine the Venezuelans’ refugee status and decide if they are entitled to protection under the principle of family unity, as well as under the protections afforded under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees, the national policy to address refugees and asylum matters, and the laws of TT.

The group of 16 children, nine women, and at least two men returned to TT three days after they were put in two pirogues and returned to Venezuelan waters by the Coast Guard.

Just before 1 pm on Tuesday, the group came ashore again in a pirogue at Los Iros beach.

Shortly afterwards, police arrived and took them to a nearby guesthouse, after which they were taken to the Siparia health facility. They are now being kept at the Erin police station.

On Sunday night, Quinlan-Williams ordered the Defence Force to produce the group of women and children on Monday in the writ of habeas corpus filed on their behalf.

But in court, the judge was told they were not in the custody of the Defence Force, since they had been taken to the maritime border between TT and Venezuela just before midday on Sunday.

Quinlan-Williams was told she could make no order for their return, since they were out of TT’s and hence the court’s jurisdiction.