Trinidad and Tobago deported 16 Venezuelan children: attorney

Trinidad and Tobago has deported 16 Venezuelan minors, separating some of them from their parents, a lawyer trying to stop their repatriation said Monday together with leaders of the Venezuelan opposition.

The minors were deported on Sunday, hours before a court hearing in which lawyers were due to demand permanent residence for the young Venezuelan migrants in the country, attorney Nafeesa Mohammed told AFP.

She called for an investigation into the operation and demanded that the government of Prime Minister Keith Rowley re- examine its handling of the migrant crisis triggered by the exodus of millions of people from Venezuela in recent years.

“There is need for an investigation to be done into how this unfolded and how the systems are being used,” she said.

“We know we have irregular migrants and the time has come for the state to improve the system to manage the flows... These are children.”

Venezuela opposition leader David Smolansky, tasked by the Organization of American States with monitoring migrants from his country, said the group of 29 deported migrants included 16 minors, one of them a baby of just four months.

The Inter- American Court of Human Rights expressed its concern and called on Trinidad and Tobago to guarantee entry for Venezuelans seeking protection for humanitarian reasons.

After hours of uncertainty, opposition deputy Omar Gonzalez said the deportees were found in the Amacuro delta, a remote region in western Venezuela. He said the children would return to the island at the request of a Trinidadian judge.

“There is need for an investigation to be done into how this unfolded and how the systems are being used.”

Nafeesa Mohammed Attorney