‘Therapeutic jurisprudence’ needed for Venezuelan immigrants, says Benjamin

CLINICAL therapist, traumatologist Hanif Benjamin, is calling for “therapeutic jurisprudence” in the cases of the ten adults and 14 children still in state custody after trying to migrate to TT illegally.

Benjamin called for compassion, and pleaded on behalf of the migrants – especially the children – for the use of the concept of therapeutic jurisprudence so that their situation could be handled in a manner that upholds the law, but still does not add to the trauma they have already been through.

They have been through hell

Benjamin said there should be no doubt that their experience coming to TT has been traumatic. He said the women and children would have had to first deal with the trauma of having their loved ones leave the country and having to live under dire circumstances;  then there is the trauma of braving the open sea and its dangers multiple times as they reached TT shores, were turned back and brought back to TT again. Now, their anxiety, worry and panic, not knowing their fates while in a cell at the Erin Police Station, compounds the trauma they have been experiencing for weeks.

“I have no doubt that this has them in a state of panic and worry, and the trauma is more so for children, who have limited coping mechanisms. We have to take into account a child’s ability to cope. This is a lot for a child, and that is something that we cannot dismiss.”

He  recognised, however, the need for proper protection of TT’s borders and how that could also benefit children brought into the country illegally to be trafficked.

“This is not a new phenomenon. Children have been trafficked through our borders....Immigration is a specialised area of expertise. You have to determine whether the person in front of you is a regular citizen or if he or she is a mule, or a trafficker. If we don’t have a robust system we could never be sure which factor they are coming to.”

TT citizens migrate illegally too

Benjamin said it was no surprise that there was a higher influx of Venezuelan migrants looking to get to TT’s shores by any means necessary. He said with Venezuelan registrations expiring, many people who were successful in registering themselves, as well as those who successfully came into the country illegally, will want to ensure that their families still living in Venezuela are also brought to TT shores.

“One cannot understimate a person’s will to reunite with their family, whether through legal or illegal means.”

He said the Venezuelan situation is not that different from that of many TT citizens who migrate to other countries whether legally or illegally.

He recalled that in the 1980s many TT citizens went to America on vacation, and still cannot come back to this day because they planted roots there illegally and have not regularised their status. He also noted that TT migrants who entered other countries illegally were not hard pressed by any social or economic crisis, but left for other countries because over there, things were “rosy.”

Benjamin added that along with fear of being deported, immigrants also have to be concerned with the xenophobia that seems to have spread among some in TT. That general distrust between the migrants and TT citizens has been exacerbated by covid19.

But Benjamin called on people to think of the influx of new citizens as a benefit and not a liability.

“We are living in a time of little. But we have to ask ourselves, are they taking from our mouths or are they adding value to TT? Our citizens who moved to America, did they take away, or did they add value by the work they do and the taxes they pay?”

Just be human

Ultimately Benjamin called for government to be human in the way it treats with immigrants.

“I believe that if people come here illegally, the law should take its course. But while you have to carry out the law, you have to understand the humanity in what we do. As we protect our borders, we must also understand that these people are, in fact, traumatised. We must be compassionate and understanding of people’s situation.”