(Trinidad Express) Many illegal immigrants entering this country have resorted to entering into “sham marriages and marriages of convenience” as a means of regularising their resident status here, National Security Minister Gary Griffith has said.
Griffith said “exorbitant sums” are usually paid to the prospective spouses in these arrangements.
He will be now liaising with Attorney General Anand Ramlogan and Legal Affairs Minister Prakash Ramadhar in an attempt to curtailing marriages of this nature.
With immediate effect anyone facilitating or participating in a fake marriage to circumvent the immigration laws of this country will face three years in prison and a fine of TT$50,000.
“Investigations have revealed that many illegal immigrants have resorted to entering into sham marriages and marriages of convenience. Persons such as these often pay exorbitant sums of money to their prospective spouse in return for the acquisition of resident status,” a release from the Ministry of National Security stated yesterday.
“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,” it stated.
Griffith said he intends to bring an end to this as he liaises with Ramlogan and Ramadhar “to implement measures with the objective of curtailing marriages of this nature”.
“One such proposed measure is an amendment to the current marriage legislation, which would debar marriages to non-nationals from being registered without a certificate from the Immigration Division attesting to their legal status, in addition to a police certificate of good character,” the release stated.
He reminded those who facilitate fake marriages that they face a possibility of three years in jail along with a TT$50,000 fine.
Griffith yesterday sought to dispel claims by chairman of the Emancipation Support Committee Khafra Kambon that 80 per cent of the immigrants currently detained at the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) were from Africa.
Griffith said that the most recent statistics show that there are 131 detainees currently housed at the IIDC of which only 23 were African nationals (Nigeria 14; Ghana 7; Senegal 1; South Africa 1).
He said of the 651 people who were repatriated from this country for the year fewer than a dozen were African nationals.
