Minister of National Security Gary Griffith yesterday confirmed T&T was officially monitoring migrants from African countries as the country prepared itself in the face of the growing global threat of Ebola. Employers of migrant workers, particularly illegals, should also ensure their employees’ health statuses were safe as T&T bid to secure borders from the deadly virus, Griffith said.
The National Energy Skills Centre already, on Health sector advice, has postponed the arrival of the latest batch of trainees from Nigeria due to the threat. Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan is liaising with Living Water, which handles people from all parts of the world seeking asylum in T&T, to ensure that avenue is also protected.
Following 8,914 cases and 4,000-plus Ebola deaths in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria, one in the US, where a Liberian national died, and isolated cases in Spain and Germany, World Health Organisation assistant director-general Dr Bruce Aylward yesterday revealed the Ebola death rate had risen to 70 per cent. He said there could be up to 10,000 new cases a week in two months.
Aylward said if the world's response to the crisis was not stepped up within 60 days, "a lot more people will die" and there will be great need to deal with spiraling numbers of cases. The Ivory Coast was also said to be threatened, he added. Yesterday, Griffith said the Immigration Division would be seeking to adhere to regulations to ensure T&T’s interests were protected.
He said he was also liaising with Immigration on confirmation of statements by US Marine Corps General John Kelly (US Southern Command) that people from Liberia had passed through T&T last month while attempting to enter the US illegally. Kelly was discussing trans-national criminal networks smuggling people who could be carrying Ebola at a National Defence University forum last month when he made the claim.
Kelly said a group of people from Libera who were found on the Costa Rica border waiting to head north, had said they “met up with the network in T&T” and were en route to the US. Kelly said there was no way to keep Ebola contained in West Africa.
Security firms at risk
Griffith said he had, therefore, taken a strong approach concerning migration to T&T in order to deal with various challenges posed by global security concerns on the Ebola issue, as well as terrorism, both of which posed challenges where border infiltration was concerned. He said: “It involves movement of persons from the Caribbean, globally as well as vice-versa, and where Ebola is concerned, possible exposure to the virus. This is very serious and not a matter of profiling anyone.
“As a result of movement, the immigration aspect is even more important now - and cannot be a rubber stamp - since persons entering T&T legally or illegally can be a liability, not only where health issues are concerned but also other areas.”
Griffith said there was also a problem with migrant workers, especially from Africa, and due to concerns about Ebola, local employers may need to monitor those they sponsored for work - or those who work for them temporarily - on possible movements back and forth from T&T to any overseas territories, particularly western Africa where the virus had claimed the most lives
Stressing the situation was not profiling, Griffith said a number of private security companies, for instance, employed migrant workers, including Caribbean and African nationals. A private security sector spokesman told the T&T Guardian that of the 534 local companies, ten to 15 use non- nationals and several agreed the Ebola threat was a discussion point due to the migrant factor in their sector.
NESC stops African batch of students
National Energy Skills Centre (NESC) chairman Feroze Khan confirmed yesterday that they had, on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer (of Health), postponed the arrival of a batch of trainees from Nigeria last month. He said: “The batch is about 100 students who were coming for training in welding pipe fabrication and similar skills at NESC’s drilling academy.
“But as a result of the existing threat, the CMO of Health advised we delay their arrival until T&T better understands the risk and we’ve complied. “We are not yet in position to say when they will be coming but we will be guided by the CMO’s advice. At this stage any visitor coming into the NESC, we will also have to seek the CMO’s advice on appropriate action.”
Health Minister Fuad Khan also says he has to hold talks on the Ebola issue with Living Water, the local representative for the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) which takes in people seeking asylum or refugee status assistance. Several months ago, Khan noted its role in that. It was reported in January that Living Water had 100 people seeking asylum in T&T, mainly from African countries, and had helped 1,200 in its work overall.
Khan said: “We will have to hold talks with Living Water so they can let us know who is coming in and we will have to do assessments to ensure all protocols on this issue are followed.” Yesterday, Living Water’s Rosemary Scott said it had been doing such work for 20 years, estimating it had assisted about 500 people between the 1990s and currently.
Scott said in recent years it had received an influx of people from Liberia, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana and other locations. But she said it had not received people from that region in a year. She said when the Ebola issue arose, it contacted health authorities on the issue and were told to refer suspected cases to hospitals. Living Water does not house refugees but interviews cases for processing.
In a media report earlier this year, Scott is quoted as saying most recent applicants were from Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Security firms at risk
Griffith said he had, therefore, taken a strong approach concerning migration to T&T in order to deal with various challenges posed by global security concerns on the Ebola issue, as well as terrorism, both of which posed challenges where border infiltration was concerned. He said: “It involves movement of persons from the Caribbean, globally as well as vice-versa, and where Ebola is concerned, possible exposure to the virus. This is very serious and not a matter of profiling anyone.
“As a result of movement, the immigration aspect is even more important now - and cannot be a rubber stamp - since persons entering T&T legally or illegally can be a liability, not only where health issues are concerned but also other areas.”
Griffith said there was also a problem with migrant workers, especially from Africa, and due to concerns about Ebola, local employers may need to monitor those they sponsored for work - or those who work for them temporarily - on possible movements back and forth from T&T to any overseas territories, particularly western Africa where the virus had claimed the most lives
Stressing the situation was not profiling, Griffith said a number of private security companies, for instance, employed migrant workers, including Caribbean and African nationals. A private security sector spokesman told the T&T Guardian that of the 534 local companies, ten to 15 use non- nationals and several agreed the Ebola threat was a discussion point due to the migrant factor in their sector.