By: Staff Writer
August 11, 2023
A lawyer for one of the formerly detained Venezuelan migrants at the Chaguaramas Heliport says it is a “disgrace” that the Trinidadian government has treated these migrants with such scant regard, and contrary to human rights laws.
Nafeesa Mohammed, speaking to Caribbean Magazine Plus, said that while her client has been released from the Chaguaramas Heliport in July, noted that the remaining 34 detainees are held in extremely unsanitary and harsh conditions.
Ms Mohammed said: “There was a raid in a sports bar (in July) and more than 100 migrants were detained and for whatever reason or charges they were dumped at the Chaguaramas Heliport, which was a detention place that developed during the COVID period where the state started to house migrants, especially Venezuelans.”
There were over 40 detainees released between July and August and another 30 were released earlier this week after a court ordered them released.
Delivering a decision on Wednesday, Justice Ricky Rahim ordered that the group be released on orders of supervision which will remain in place until their joint substantive lawsuit is eventually determined.
While the Immigration Division was also barred from executing the deportation orders against the group, Justice Rahim did not invalidate them (the orders).
However, only 30 of the migrants were released after the government appealed the decision and was granted a stay, which means that 34 migrants still remain detained at the Heliport. “The conditions in there are filthy and inhumane to have people in there,” Ms Mohammed said.
She added: “They were supposed to be released immediately, according to the order of the court and when they started to process them around 6pm on Wednesday, they just stopped abruptly and only 30 of them were processed and the rest were disappointed and told they will be released.
“The state went and appealed the judgement of the judge. And that came up for hearing on Wednesday around 2:30pm and hours of arguments for and against and the judge in the court of appeals had referred the matter for Thursday at 11:30am for his decision.”
On Thursday, Justice of Appeal Prakash Moosai granted the stay sought by the State preventing the conditional release of the group. “Our refugee laws are a real mess. This is going to get really tricky as some laws were changed just recently that allows the government more discretion on who they can deport.”
“They should all be released from the Heliport. The conditions are inhumane,” Ms Mohammed asserted. “Many are Asylum Seekers whose applications for refugee status have not yet been determined.
“We do not have a Refugee Act in place as yet even though we signed, ratified and acceded to the Transnational Organised Crime Convention since 2000/2001. This is a flagrant violation of basic international human rights and humanitarian law principles.”