“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.
woman it’s not your country, they have a right to reject your entry. “SHE BROKE THE LAW ONCE”
stop complaining to the public, no one gives a dam and get on with life.
Amen, you have wrapped it up in a nutshell here.
Agree,it seem to me that Guyanese are losing all sense off respect,there acting like lap dog crawling and scrounging for a meal,its embarrassing as a Guyanese to see such descent in Guyana’s society and morality,Guyanese should stand up and demand more from there government and if ppp can’t get the job done vote somebody else in simple,lift up your heads Guyanese and be proud once again.
One of editors shouting out window onto Robb Street (where SN located) to man riding bicycle: “You ! yes you, banna ! You ever went Trinidad ? (inaudible response) …The same to you, sir ! But before you rde on, tell the fellow lying down on the pavement to look up ….”……..
wha’s more, why is she mad at the Trinidadian officials? From what she is saying it was in Guyana she was roughed up and treated like a criminal, so what’s her point?
By the way,can anyone tell if the ordeal she went through here is the standard procedure for Guyanese when refused entry into another country?
So why the police custody here in Guyana for five hours or more? What charges?
Freespeech , you are on the ball , WELL SAID !!
Well kool off and go again. Da is all I could say.
Well 2 things
1. She could just go under a different passport just like the other guyanese to here in Barbados (they actually brag how easy it is to travel on a sister’s or cousin’s passport etc. oh, and how easy it is to buy one too)
She broke the law one before so they were not taking any chances, if she wanted an extension she should have applied then.
2. She was rejected from T&T, but it is in GUYANA THAT SHE WAS TREATED THE WORST when she got back.
Something more is going on here
STARBROCK would never mention this one.
http://www.nationnews.com/news/local/guyana-again-copy-for-web
Non story.
BAJANMAN
That is true what that man saying. But the Guyanese alot of them want to bury their heads in the name of patriotism and not criticise the Government. Lucky dem & dem want run come other people country.
Sorry to hear of your daughter’s plight, but according to what the mother said her daughter did overstayed her time by two days a year ago when she visited T&T, and that may have caused her rejection, sorry but that’s the way it is, that’s why when visitors go to other countries they have to follow the rules and laws, no ifs and but about that.
IF YOU HAVE OVERSTAYED YOUR TIME IN ANY COUNTRY YOU WILL BE RIGHTFULLY REJECTED……. IF YOU CANNOT FOLLOW THE RULE OF THE COUNTRY THEN YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT THE CONSEQUENCES.
I am not saying that this happened because I do not know the facts of this case, but Guyanese traveling to other countries to visit relatives should be aware that they have to travel with a return ticket to signify your intention to leave at the end of the visit. I have seen cases where persons travel on a one way ticket expecting that the relatives will pay for their return. Immigration in the country being visited will assume that a person traveling on a one way ticket intends to stay.
I do not know why the officer stamped her passport rejected but people should realise that you must convince him/her that your visit to that country is legitimate and you would be returning to your home country at the end of the period agreed upon. She most likely was unable to this.
Her treatment back in Guyana leaves much to be desired. The officers could have easily established that she was a very recent departure and therefore could not have broken any laws in Trinidad. She was refused entry but not deported since she must have had a return ticket and this was used for her return. Maybe they are tabulating reports for Luncheon.
No problem here. Trinidad determined she was not eligible for admission and she was refused entry. There was no kick down the door treatment. Give back the woman her passport.
If she had a return ticket she would be able to leave Trinidad and renter Guyana normally. There would have been no need for her passport to be stamped rejected. That she was taken into custody by Guyana immigration and treated in such a manner is an indication that she was deported.
Borapork the passport is not hers’ it belongs to the Government of Guyana and could be withdrawn at any time -if you still have your Guyana passport read the conditions under which it was issued -the back page.
Buster: I thought a return ticket was mandatory for a visit. If the intention was not to return to Guyana she should have at least bought the return ticket to bolster her case as a visitor. After all a wedding is normally a one day event.If she didn’t she is stupid and got what she deserved.
FAZMAN: You are correct but it’s still her passport in the sense she is the only one who can legally use it. It’s almost similar to “this is my house” until the government is ready to use “eminent domain” to confiscate it for their use. Point taken.
It looks like SN is about to launch a series of Trinidad bashing stories now that the Bajan bashing stories are not getting as many responses as before. This story is incomplete. An investigation needs to be done to find out why the Guyanese girl was rejected in Trinidad. The Trinidadians probably have a legitimate reason for rejecting her. In any event, it is the Guyanese officials, not the Trinidadians, who put the girl through what her mother called a “long traumatizing process.” She was kept in police custody at the Guyanese airport for 5 hours. She was then taken to police headquarters in Guyana, where she was photographed and fingerprinted. She was then taken to an immigration office in Guyana where her passport was confiscated. I don’t see anything inhumane about the way she was treated, but if you want to argue that she was treated inhumanely, you must admit she was treated worse by Guyanese officials than by Trinidadians. The word “inhumane” is used excessively and inappropriately by Guyanese who want to bully their way into places where they are not wanted.
Please disregard this illegal alien.
bagegal,I must agree with you there,sometimes I wonder what it is about us Guyanese that is so different to other nationalities,we come on this site everyday pointing out the way other caribbean people are living in the US,Canada and other places,and yet we don’t understand why they are not making the news in such a negative way as we are,we expected to be treated like we are so special,yet we continue to break the laws of other countries….I think it is time for us to grow up,and stop acting like a bunch of delinquent children,who just always want to have our own way…lets instead kick and scream at our leaders to do what we expected them to do when we voted for them!!
What a complete turn around and twisting of the mouth by bloggers so far, now that T&T is involved.One thing for sure,bloggers from T&T have no need to come on this site and represent the Twin Island, the Guyanese overseas blogging posse is looking after T&T interest.
I travel from toronto to guyana in transit at trinidad with my 2 2 year old daughter and was indeed treatet inhumane at trinidad. Those people need training how to ask question politely, the very same question they are asking very rudely like we are some kind of criminal or something
C’mon ! It was really the passport that was rejected at Piarco Int’l. That prompted the Guyanese authorities to confiscate the travel document when she arrived Guyana.
I am in sympathy with the young lady but the T&T immigration officer did his job based on whatever guidelines they have for refusing entry and the lady returned to Guyana. Here is where the horrors began. She was treated like a criminal suspect in her own country. Why wait for officers to come from Georgetown to collect a person then return to town with the person collected, fingerprint, then taken to Immigration to have passport taken away?
If that is our policy in dealing with Guyanese who are rejected by other countries, why not question, fingerprint and seize passport on arrival at the airport? That should not take more than an hour.
Soon guyanese will start deporting Guyanese. I gonna give allyuh a story. My wife travelled to Guyana with our daughter, my wife is the holder of a Guyana passport, she is born Guyanese, our child is not, the immigration officer is gonna ask my wife how long she come to spend in Guyana. What a joke!!
NONE OF YOU SEEM TO UNDERSTAND THE SERIOUSNESS HERE, WHY DID A YOUNG GIRL HAVE TO BE FINGERPRINTED AND PHOTOGRAPHED?
SHE WAS NOT DEPORTED , WHY WAS SHE QUESTIONED WITHOUT HER PARENTS PRESENT? THAT PEOPLE IS HOW GUYANESE RIGHTS ARE BEING VIOLATED IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY.WHY GET UPSET WITH A COUNTRY THAT REFUSES YOU ENTRY? THEY HAVE A RIGHT. WE CANT FIGHT FOR RIGHTS IN OTHER PEOPLES COUNTRY WHEN WE ARE BEING VIOLATED EVERYDAY IN OUR OWN.
Commando, perhaps that is the procedure .My child was born in the UK came back here as a baby.We went on a trip overseas,when she was 9/10 years old. When we got back to Barbados she was given a 14 days stay by immigration, no questions asked.
dont know they had a guyanese bench at the cjia