More than 30 Venezuelans face deportation after Appeal Court halts release

OVER three dozen Venezuelans who received a temporary reprieve from deportation had their hopes of being released dashed when the Court of Appeal granted a stay which effectively paves the way for their return to their home country.

On Thursday, Justice of Appeal Prakash Moosai granted the stay sought by the State preventing the conditional release of the group.

Up to 5 pm on Thursday, the group were still at the heliport. Among them are two who were deemed refugees by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as their applications were approved while the others are awaiting theirs to be determined or are unregistered.

There was no official notice on if their deportation will take place on Friday.

On Tuesday, hours after Justice Ricky Rahim ordered the immediate release of 64 Venezuelans who were detained on July 9, and temporarily gave them a reprieve by preventing their immediate deportation, attorneys for the National Security Minister swiftly moved to appeal the decision.

In an urgent appeal, attorneys for the minister contended that the deportation of the group could have been done as early as Thursday.

On Tuesday, Rahim restrained the National Security Minister from enforcing the deportation orders for the 64, pending the determination of their judicial review claim which he permitted them to file.

He also ordered the minister to release the 64 on orders of supervision, or conditional release, pending the determination of their lawsuit. However, he made it clear that the deportation orders for the group remained valid unless set aside by the court or revoked by the minister.

On Tuesday evening, immigration officers processed 30 of them before they were ordered to stop releasing any more migrants at the heliport who had challenged the delay by the minister to deport them some three weeks after they were held in a group of almost 200 at the Apex Bar in St James on July 9.

The minister’s application said compliance with Rahim’s order will result in them not presenting themselves for deportation and will make attempts to avoid detection.

“The respondents are all illegal migrants and do not have any right to remain in Trinidad and Tobago in light of the unchallenged deportation order made by the appellant. These deportation orders have also been declared to be valid by the learned judge.

In their application, the minister’s legal team contended that there was no challenge to the legality of the deportation orders and arrangements for their repatriation were in place for Thursday, “within a reasonable time.”

The Appeal Court application said it was the minister’s experience that when orders of supervision are made, those who are conditionally released “ inevitably fail to present themselves to the Immigration Division as required and avoid detection” making it impossible for them to be deported.

It also said this is what the minister feared would happen if the stay was not granted.

It was argued that the conditional release did not prevent deportation.

The State’s appeal raised eight grounds of challenge in which they contend Rahim was wrong and erred in law by the findings he made on Tuesday.

The intended appeal contends that having declared the deportation orders for the 64 valid, Rahim was wrong to order their conditional release and exceeded his jurisdiction by doing so.

It also contends he was wrong to grant them permission to seek judicial review and was wrong in his interpretation of the Immigration Act as it related to considerations to be taken when determining if an illegal migrant should be conditionally released.

The minister was represented by attorneys Gregory Delzin, Vanessa Gopaul, Shalini Singh, Avoin Romain and Vincent Jardine while Elton Prescott, SC, Criston J Williams, Blaine Sobrian and Shivanand Mohan appeared for the migrants.