Rowley: Ministry to assess heliport detention centre soon

THE Prime Minister expects that, fairly soon, an assessment will be made about the continued existence of the migrant detention centre at the heliport at Chaguaramas, speaking at a briefing on Monday at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's.

Newsday asked if the centre – set up during the height of the pandemic to house illegal migrants – had outlived its purpose with the roll-back of covid19 restrictions.

Rowley replied, "The heliport as a venue for controlling illegal migrants, until such time as the National Security Ministry advises the Cabinet that it should be disbanded, it remains for the moment.

"It did come into being in response to covid, but also in response to the flood of migrants coming in. That flood seems to have abated, but there are still people coming in."

He said migrants were also held at the Immigration Detention Centre in Aripo.

Newsday asked about allegations of sexual abuse of a 21-year-old female Venezuelan detainee by members of the Coast Guard, reported in recent media stories citing a local human rights group, but on which the police Victim Support Unit has said it had got no corroborating testimony from any other detainees.

Rowley said whenever allegations were made, specific entities investigate them.

"To the best of my knowledge, the allegations were taken very seriously and the requisite government department went in and investigated and could not find information to take further action at this time.

"My understanding is that the investigation may still be under way and they are requiring certain levels of co-operation. That is police work.

"It cannot be said that the State did not respond."

Rowley said the seriousness of the allegations did not mean the matter should be handled by just making emotional comments about it.

"It can only be handled by the requisite officers of state. There is a special department of the police service to treat with that and those officers went in and did the requisite investigations and we have to be guided by that."

The law and the skills of officers would help unearth any evidence if it exists, he said.

"If it is not found, there is precious little we can do with respect to prosecution."

He said investigations were done by independent, professional arms of the State, even as the law courts had accepted a writ of habeas corpus for the alleged victim.

Rowley said the Counter Trafficking Unit curbs wrongdoing against migrants.

"We dealt with it as the law permits and we do have officers whose duty it is, whose job, on a daily basis, is to seek to prevent that and to prosecute that if it does happen. So we are quite comfortable that TT responded appropriately to the allegation." He said he was guided by what the investigators produced.

Newsday asked if defence force servicemen overseeing civilian detainees meant current allegations had been an accident waiting to happen.

Rowley replied, "What I could tell you is, at the time when we responded to the emergency, we used the resources that we had available and were appropriate."

Newsday asked why not bring in IDC staff and women prison warders to run the heliport.

"This was a situation that was temporary. It was overwhelming. We had to use what facility we had. We had to use what officers we had.

"What you have raised, whether it should continue in the absence of covid, is another story which I'm pretty sure is being assessed, and we might have an answer for that in the not-too-distant future."