More than a headcount

GOVERNMENT’S step to renew the registration process for Venezuelan migrants must be more than a headcount. There must also be a clear vision for how the migrants can be integrated into national society.

This is why the Homeland Security Minister should have provided detailed insight on the policy, other than an announcement on January 22 of a $700 fee for migrants to register.

Government signalled its plans last year to process all undocumented migrants, not only Venezuelans, through the Migrant Registration Framework to allow them to live and work legally from January 1-September 30, 2026.

It is essential for the country to have a clear picture of not just how many migrants are here, but of what impact they have on the workforce, social support services, and economy. There is an economic cost to their presence.

Roger Alexander’s statement to reporters at a post-cabinet briefing, differed from this, in that only Venezuelans are to be registered at sport venues across Trinidad. There’s also online registration to be followed by in-person interviews. There were no details on the process for non-Venezuelan immigrants.

The plan is also appearing to be centred on rooting out “criminals.” Even before the US-Venezuelan conflict, drug trafficking out of South America has been a national concern.

Alexander confirmed the exercise is also being done because people "are involved in crime and other type of activities and we want to be able to know who lives here...where...so we will know how to manoeuvre...during investigations and otherwise.”

Already, the prospect of deportation is hanging over migrants’ heads if they fail to register. Government already has migrants in detention facing deportation, but has not been able to negotiate their return with the Venezuelan government, ostensibly from a stand-off over Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s steadfast support of the US narco-trafficking rhetoric for extra-judicial killings at sea and the barbed exchanges between Caracas and Port of Spain.

Perhaps, with Nicolás Maduro's extraction by the US, and the acting president seemingly bowing to Washington, deportation may be possible.

Knowing the numbers and making enough from them to cover the process is one thing. But where do migrants go forward from here? Will their children finally be allowed to go to school, would consideration be given to formalising their employment? Qualified engineers, medical practitioners working in factories can be allowed to play a greater role in TT’s development.

Asked if registered migrants would pay taxes, the minister said the focus is registration. “Come and register and be a good immigrant or a visitor for TT."

But can the move be directed toward residency status, in the long term? In opposition, the UNC claimed the PNM was moving to allow migrants electoral status to vote. Is this their view still, now in government? What about the status of migrant children born to a TT national and marriages between migrants and nationals?

We recommend government clearly outlines what its plans are for the migrants.