Dear Editor,
It has been brought to my attention that the Immigration Officers (Police) at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and police officers at the CID Georgetown Headquarters, are harassing persons who are being sent back to Guyana from Canada by Departure Orders issued by Immigration Canada.
The police and Immigration Department of Guyana should be aware that a Departure Order is different from a Deportation Order.
People who are issued Departure Orders because of a failed refugee claim or for overstaying their time in Canada are given thirty days to leave Canada from the date of the Departure Order.
Failure to leave within the thirty-day period would make the Departure Order automatically a Deportation Order.
So persons who leave Canada voluntarily on the basis of a Departure Order within the thirty-day period and pay their own airfare to Guyana cannot be classified as deportees according to Canadian Immigration Laws.
However, the Immigration Department of Guyana and the Guyana Police are treating these persons who leave Canada voluntarily on a Departure Order as deportees and have them in custody for nearly two days and more.
They are fingerprinted and their passports are seized. They also go through all types of humiliation and abuses by policemen at the CID headquarters.
I am going to take up this matter with the Immigration Minister, Mr. Jason Kenney in Canada and the Canadian Government.
Yours faithfully,
Balwant Persaud
