(Trinidad Express) – Nationals of other Caricom countries who live in Trinidad and Tobago and have broken the law have received “soft” treatment as opposed to being deported, says Prime Minister Patrick Manning.
In making the comment, however, Manning did not say there would be a stronger enforcement of immigration laws against such Caricom nationals as to the issue of how they were treated in this country even as the issue in Barbados is becoming a contentious in the light of the deeper integration movement being pursued within the region.
“We have a history of fairly open borders here, even in circumstances where people violate the laws of Trinidad and Tobago. We have had a soft approach to that rather than send back, which we could easily have done. I mean the last time we did that, as far as I remember, was in the 60s,” Manning said.
Manning was speaking during a news conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, on Sunday in response to criticism from Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo who reportedly described the manner some Guyanese and other Caricom nationals have been treated by immigration officials in Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados as “despicable”.
“Trinidad and Tobago understands very well that what community means is a communing of peoples, we understand that, and that there is a letter, a spirit of the law and we are trying to abide by the spirit of the law in addition to the letter,” Manning said.
Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson did not attend the news conference but Jagdeo said he discussed the matter with him during the Caricom Heads special meeting at the Diplomatic Centre on Sunday.
As Jagdeo sat just two seats away from him, Manning said that often such instances had nothing to do with official government policy but rather “overzealous immigration officials”.
It was St Vincent Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves who first commented on the matter in response to questions about previous statements he made in which he expressed his concerns about the immigration issue.
“You cannot expect to cherry pick in the integration movement, the CSME. Freedom of movement is an important dimension of the CSME,” Gonsalves said.
While Gonsalves said he would not name the Caricom countries that in his view were being too harsh in their immigration policies towards some Caricom nationals, he noted that “there are several countries in the region with which we have problems”.
Saying that Gonsalves has identified those countries “privately all the time”, Jagdeo maintained that Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados “are the chief offenders”.
Gonsalves also said that sometimes it was a question of overzealous immigration officials.
