Two busloads of Haitian nationals are currently in custody after a covert operation intercepted them on the Mabura-to-Lethem Trail on Saturday and law enforcers are investigating a possible smuggling ring, police sources yesterday said.
Police sources said that the nationals had come into the country and had given information to immigration that they were here for either business or vacation in the capital.
It is unclear where they were headed but police believe that they have stopped a plan to smuggle them into Brazil.
The men and women are currently at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) assisting authorities with the investigations.
There have long been concerns about Haitian and Cuban nationals entering the country legally but exiting illegally.
Under pressure to account for hundreds of Haitians who had arrived in this country but did not leave legally, then APNU+AFC Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix had last year said that the police had found no evidence of people smuggling and had called reportage on the matter “xenophobic”.
A porous border and limited human resources hamper lawmen and immigration officers from addressing the suspected illegal movement of persons across Guyana’s boundaries, he had explained.
He had told this newspaper that with a number of unofficial crossings on the eastern, western and southern borders of Guyana, persons can easily make their way to another territory. He had been asked what was being done to address the suspected illegal movement of Haitians across Guyana’s borders, mainly at Lethem.
Stabroek News has previously reported that Haitians, after arriving here, move rapidly to exit the country via Lethem.
Felix had explained that in Region Nine there are many areas where persons can leave without law enforcement officers being aware of their movements. He added that some persons would opt to cross over the Takutu Bridge at nights after the daily operations of immigration officers had ceased. Further, he explained that persons can travel to different parts of the region and cross via boat over the Ireng River or walk across during the dry season.
“There are points where people cross at nights and, in the dry season, it is easier for them to cross. Policemen are not always at these locations and the stations are distances away from where this is happening. The borders are wide. That makes [it] unpredictable to know where people are crossing and stop them,” he emphasised.
Giving statistics on Haitian travel here, he had said that records show that in 2013, 188 Haitians arrived in Guyana with 99 departures; in 2014, 227 arrivals and 113 departures; in 2015, 770 arrivals with 136 departures; in 2016, 722 arrivals with 451 departures; in 2018, 3, 515 arrivals with 291 departures and in 2018, 1,238 arrivals with 85 departures.
In 2019, Felix explained, there was a legislative adjustment to Schedule II of the Immigration Act, Cap. 14:02, to include Haiti as a beneficiary of the Caribbean Single Market & Economy (CSME), which facilitates free movement within the Region and automatic entry and stay of six months in CARICOM countries.
Prior to the amendment, the Act had facilitated the six months automatic stay to other CARICOM member states including Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, The Bahamas, Montserrat, Grenada, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago with the exception of Haiti, whose nationals had required a visa and were only permitted to stay for up to 90 days or three months.
