Dear Editor,

In connection with your article, ‘Mother decries treatment of Guyanese girl at Piarco’ (SN, July 6), I wish to make the following comments.

The girl admitted that she overstayed her time by two days about a year ago; this was the reason for her rejection. Almost all countries would refuse entry or a visa to someone who overstayed their time without proper authorization.

But what is appalling is that the girl was treated worse by her own Guyanese authorities, namely the police which control the immigration department. There was no reason for her to be taken to CID headquarters, photographed and fingerprinted as she did not commit any offence in Guyana.  She was treated like a common criminal. She left Trinidad and arrived in Guyana legally, and had a valid return ticket.

There is no legal justification for the police to keep her passport as she did not commit any crime neither was she deported. It should be noted the girl was not deported but was just refused entry at a port of entry. A person can only be deported if they have committed a crime or have breached the immigration laws of a country, and this did not happen in this case.

The police could have taken a statement from her at the Cheddi Jagan airport when she landed, as the immigration authorities might want to know the reason why she was sent back from Trinidad.

Putting this girl through all the harassment is an unfortunate act by the police who cannot claim that they are investigating any wrongdoing as they have not received any complaint and the girl was not a suspect in any crime.

The Guyana government should stop condemning the regional governments on their immigration matters and clean up their own act and stop harassing their own citizens who are being sent back by regional governments.

Yours faithfully,
Balwant Persaud