Minister of National Security Gary Griffith says there is no witch-hunt to target illegal African immigrants as only nine out of 651 Africans have been deported for 2014. He was responding to criticisms that undocumented Africans were being targeted by Government and treated like criminals.
Chastising the chairman of the Emancipation Support Committee Khafra Kambon for “making mischievous statements about racial profiling,” Griffith warned that all illegal immigrants had until February to become regularised. “If not, we will take every action to ensure that they are deported to their homeland,” Griffith said He denied Kambon’s statements that 80 per cent of the immigrants currently detained at the Immigration Detention Centre, Arima, were from Africa.
“There are 131 detainees currently housed at the Immigration Detention Centre and only 23 detainees are African nationals. These include 14 from Nigeria, seven from Ghana and two from Senegal and South Africa respectively, Griffith said. Saying this represents only 17.8 per cent of the total number of detainees, Griffith added: “651 people have been repatriated from T&T to the Caribbean, Latin American, European and African countries in 2014 of which only nine were African nationals.
“Investigations have revealed that many illegal immigrants have resorted to entering into sham marriages and marriages of convenience. People pay exorbitant sums of money to their prospective spouse in return for the acquisition of resident status. “These persons frequently exploit the marriage legislation of certain religions which do not require the posting of banns or notices, despite not belonging to the religion.
“These marriages are registered by the Ministry of Legal Affairs without any verification of the person’s legal immigration status, which is not currently a requirement under any of the aforementioned marriage legislation. “This raises serious concerns regarding human trafficking, money laundering and other transnational criminal activities which may be taking place under the guise of marriage, which is a sacred institution.”
Contacted yesterday Kambon said it was unfortunate that Africans were denied the opportunity of becoming regularised. He said the longest serving immigrants at the detention centre were Africans. Kambon also said the deported Africans deserved a chance to have their matters reviewed before they were deported.
“We are calling for an evaluation like any decent civilised country does, especially to those who have families,” Kambon said. He added that it was preposterous for $2.6 million to be spent to send the Africans home. On Sunday, a Caribbean Airlines chartered flight, costing the State $2.6 million, took 11 Ghanians back to Africa after the High Court and Appeal Court threw out legal challenges to block the deportation order in a marathon overnight hearing.
Griffith said the charter flight was justified and his ministry would continue to pay special interest in the organised criminal gangs. A senior immigration officer, who requested anonymity, said the detainees were criminals as they had broken the law.
He said under Section 40 of the Immigration Act, people engaging in or facilitating marriages of convenience were aiding and abetting illegal immigrants to (circumvent) immigration laws were subject to criminal prosecution which might lead to a maximum of three years imprisonment and a fine of $50,000.