“She was treated like a criminal,” a Guyanese mother said yesterday as she related the “terrible treatment” her daughter was subjected to by immigration officials last week.
The woman, who requested anonymity, explained that her daughter left last Thursday for Trinidad. Her daughter, Reshma [not her real name] traveled to Trinidad to attend the wedding of a close relative.
However, when Reshma arrived at the Piarco International Airport, Trinidad on Thursday night the immigration official stamped “rejected” in her passport and she was instructed to return to Guyana on the next flight.
“I don’t know why they did that to her,” Reshma’s mother said. “The last time she was in Trinidad was about a year ago. She was there for a couple of weeks and she had overstayed two days. I am not sure if that is why she was treated that way or whether they Trinidad] has some campaign going on.”
Reshma, according to her mother, arrived at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri at approximately 3am on Friday and was forced to wait there for five hours. During that time Reshma was in police custody at the airport and slept on a bench while she waited for ranks from Eve Leary to collect her.
Shortly after 8 am last Friday, the distressed mother reported, her daughter was collected from CJIA and taken to Police Headquarters, Eve Leary where she was questioned, fingerprinted and photographed.
“I don’t know why she was rejected from Trinidad and had to go through that long traumatizing process here,” Reshma’s mother said. “Look just Saturday they were talking at the CARICOM Summit about how any Caribbean national must be treated in a humane manner…what they did is not humane. It was embarrassing and traumatizing for my daughter.”
CARICOM [Caribbean Community] leaders on Saturday reaffirmed their commitment to free movement across the region as set out in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. This was done amid the growing controversy over individual immigration policies. They also firmly accepted that migrants who fall outside the declared categories are entitled to humane treatment.
Reshma’s mother said that she can only hope that the agreements made at the “vigorous” debate on Saturday will be practiced.
After several hours in police custody Reshma was taken to the Central Immigration Office where her passport was lodged. She was later released, but her passport remains at the immigration office.
“My daughter is still traumatized by the entire thing and she said that she doesn’t want to travel there [Trinidad] again…I don’t think this is how they should be treating Guyanese or Caribbean nationals, that treatment certainly wasn’t humane,” the woman stated.