Time to step up for migrants

THIS MONTH marks exactly two years since an amnesty was put in place for migrant Venezuelans allowing them to live and work in this country.

More than 16,000 registered under the Government’s scheme in June 2019. As of March, about 14,000 of these re-registered to remain. Some have returned – sometimes involuntarily and controversially – to Venezuela. Others have perhaps slipped off the grid or simply been unable to file fresh paperwork.

But though official numbers are down, the plight of Venezuelans has in no way diminished.

Last month was particularly hard on migrants. Life during the pandemic was already precarious for everyone given the general slowdown of economic activity. But the return to a lockdown and then a state of emergency aggravated these conditions to an intolerable degree, particularly for migrant families. Many have been living from pay cheque to pay cheque in the kind of jobs that were the first casualties of the newly tightened restrictions.

Adreina Briceno Brown, the director of La Casita, an Arima-based NGO that manages a database of the needy in the Venezuelan community, says its listings run to 4,000 requests for help. Many of them are for rent.

The organisation is currently only able to supply food and personal hygiene items. And even for those, it must manage available resources carefully to ensure everyone gets something out of their limited supply.

Ms Briceno Brown explained her organisation is not receiving the same volume of aid as it did during the first lockdown of 2020 and there is little it can do about the possible eviction of hundreds of families who cannot pay their rent for May.

Unless things change, there is going to be a serious crisis.

Yet if there is to be any meaningful response to the predicament of migrants, it is most likely going to have to come from compassionate individuals or committed NGOs.

We have seen all too clearly the limits of the Government’s formal position on this issue, which has been centred on simply allowing migrants to stay here and work.

Uncertainty on another possible amnesty extension (the last extension was for a period of six months) comes at a time when Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds has met with RC Archbishop Jason Gordon, a key stakeholder on migrant aid, over this issue.

Mr Hinds recently issued orders to allow Venezuelans to replace lost or stolen amnesty permit cards if they pay a $500 fee, report the matter to police and sign a statutory declaration.

But now that jobs have dried up, such matters seem moot. With the Treasury under pressure, more substantial relief is unlikely.

In the absence of any formal policy changes, the situation calls for compassion from the general population. If ever there was a moment to step up, it is now.