T&T Immigration Chief admits Venezuelan influx

(Trinidad Guardian) Chief Immigration Officer Charmaine Gandhi-Andrews admits there has been an increase in illegal immigrants to this country, but she is also admitting she is not in a position to give exact numbers “because a lot of the persons who have entered we know nothing about.”

But she is admitting that over the last year most of those who are entering illegally are Venezuelans.

The influx of illegal immigrants has created more than one problem for Gandhi-Andrews, who admits she has had to act “ultra vires the Immigration Act” because it makes no provision for asylum seekers or refugees.

Gandhi-Andrews was among Ministry of National Security officials who yesterday appeared before a Joint Select Committee of Parliament on Equality and Diversity, which examined the issue of the treatment of detainees at the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) at Aripo.

As of yesterday morning, there were 118 detainees at the IDC. Of that number, 75 per cent entered the country illegally and most of them are Venezuelan nationals who, apart from entering illegally, have no documentation.

Responding to a question from committee chair Nyan Gadsby-Dolly on the number of illegal people in the country, Gandhi-Andrews said while there has been an increase in people entering illegally, “actual number we won’t be able to give because a lot of the persons who have entered we know nothing about.”

However, she said 19,000 Venezuelans had entered through legal ports of entry and of that number 17 per cent had overstayed their time.