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UML wrote:‘Lured by land of milk, honey’
Renuka Singh
Published:
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Chairman of the Emancipation Support Committee Khafra Kambon hugs African migrant Gregory Moses following a press conference at committee's office on Bergerac Road, Maraval yesterday. Moses was recently granted refugee status after being detained at the detention centre for three years. PHOTO: JEFF MAYERS
Nigerian detainee, Tine Okodeo Kings, 40, who was just released from the detention centre, is now married to a Trinidadian. Speaking to the media at the Emancipation Centre, Bergerac Road, Maraval, Kings said he came in, undocumented, through a small port in Cedros from Venezuela.
He said he did not know why he came to Trinidad. “I got a ticket to go to Brazil for a job and there I realised that the job I was promised was not actually the way it was explained to me and then I was stranded... so someone comes to me and says there is this land flowing with milk and honey, T&T, there are jobs, you could make some good dollars. That is how I came here,” he said.
Kings said he made a connection with a Trinidadian who owned a boat and paid the man US$250 for a ride “in a fig boat on the high seas” to Cedros. He said it was a small boat that travelled through shark-infested waters.
Back home in Nigeria, Kings was a teacher and was initially supposed to run a restaurant in Brazil. Describing conditions in the detention centre, he said: “The beds are like baby beds, the kind I buy for my six-year-old son and it is a double-decker, so when the man on top is shifting, it shifts. The windows are louvres so at night you get a lot of mosquito bites. Otherwise the place is not hygienic. It is a prison.”
Kings said he was at home last year with his wife of seven years when immigration officers picked him up. He said conditions at the centre were worse for the women and claimed a female detainee had committed suicide. His wife posted a bond for his release and even after it was posted, he was remanded for months. Kings was at the centre for over a year before finally being released into his wife's custody, according to a document signed by the Minister of National Security.
http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2014-11- ... y%E2%80%99
Ghanaian may be freed today
Court denies State extension...
By Rickie Ramdass rickie.ramdass@trinidadexpress.com
Story Created: Nov 12, 2014 at 10:16 PM ECT
Story Updated: Nov 12, 2014 at 10:16 PM ECT
GHANAIAN national Musah Ibrahim, who has been detained at the Immigration Detention Centre in Aripo for close to 15 months awaiting deportation, could be released as early as today after a High Court judge yesterday denied a second extension of time to the State to comply with the deportation order.
Justice Vashiest Kokaram, presiding at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain, dismissed the application, saying there was no evidence before the court to prove the State’s argument that $2.5 million had already been spent to acquire a chartered flight to facilitate the deportation, nor was there any guarantee that the deportation would in fact take place on November 23, as the State had argued. Ibrahim’s release, however, will last only as long until the State is fully in a position to execute the deportation order.
The judge did not outline any conditions to which Ibrahim must abide pending the deportation.
He pointed out, however, that Ibrahim was seeking to become a citizen of this country and would be fully aware that if he attempted to evade authorities it would have a negative impact on him getting permanent resident status.
In July, following the hearing of a writ of habeas corpus to have Ibrahim released, Justice Kokaram gave the State until September 30 to deport him. In the instance that this was not done, the judge ordered that he should be released pending the deportation.
However, days before the deadline date, the State made an application for an extension of time which was granted giving it until November 6 to execute the order. On Tuesday it made the second application.
Kokaram said he had no doubt that the State was making all efforts to put steps in place to deport Ibrahim, but the court was not willing to act “in vain” and grant a second extension only for a third application to be made as the order was unable to be executed.
In addition to the dismissal of the State’s application, the judge also dismissed an application filed by Ibrahim’s attorneys as they sought leave from the court to initiate judicial review proceedings against Minister of National Security Gary Griffith for not taking into consideration a letter sent to the ministry asking him to exercise his power to quash the deportation order on compassionate grounds and grounds of unusual hardship.
Ibrahim’s attorneys stated that the minister did not take the letter into consideration as he never replied to them despite the letter being sent to him on August 14. The judge stated in his ruling that there was also no evidence to prove that the letter had been sent or received by the minister.
“There is not sufficient evidence that the application was actually brought to the attention of the minister. Where was it served? Outside the (Ministry of National Security) building, on the street or at the minister’s door? It would be dangerous to grant leave then only to find out the application was not even served,” the judge said.
Wife feels relief
Ibrahim entered this country illegally sometime in May 2009, and married Trinidadian national Ashley Ibrahim in 2010 following which the two became parents of a baby boy.
Evidence was given during the habeas corpus hearing earlier this year that, in 2013, the Minister of National Security acknowledged the woman’s application for her husband to travel to a neighbouring Caricom country and re-enter this country to pursue his resident application.
However, the following day while attempting to leave this country for Venezuela at Pier One, Chaguaramas, he was arrested and charged with entering this country illegally in 2009 and failing to report to immigration officers. On April 23, 2013, Ibrahim appeared in the Port of Spain Magistrates’ Court and was fined $5,000 which was eventually paid.
Following yesterday’s ruling Ashley Ibrahim told reporters she felt “relief” that her husband could be released from the centre as early as today.
Ibrahim’s attorney Farid Scoon said he was satisfied that the court did not agree with the weak arguments put forward by the State.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Gha ... 05221.html
Habit7 wrote:Kinda like our run off vote bill. Like Kamla, Obama will get vote out for imposing his will on the ppl.
orangefox wrote:Word is hundreds of illegals are getting amnesty !
This Xmas will be very happy for many.
Well done Gary ! UNC the party of progress.
Habit7 wrote:Kinda like our run off vote bill. Like Kamla, Obama will get vote out for imposing his will on the ppl.
RBphoto wrote:Having illegal immigrant status is a deterrent from anyone wanting to become a productive member of society. Without stability or opportunities for advancement, education or gainful employment, most illegal immigrants will remain a burden to or economy.
RBphoto wrote:They are not going anywhere.
RBphoto wrote:Best make them feel at home, so they can live a decent life, settle down and contribute to the GDP of T&T. Remember, the solar system is a small place. There is only one earth. We should not discriminate against another human being just because of a man made, imaginary line in the sand.
j.o.e wrote:I voted 'No' because this is too complexed an issue to just say 'yes'........why have an Amnesty when our borders are a free for all, our health services, national security and education system is stretched beyond limit? Let's learn to take care of the population we already have and have a streamlined process for those who want to LEGITIMATELY become citizens. An amnesty will open the flood gates and only serve to increase squatting and other societal ills...we already have too many ppl fighting for scarce resources in Trinidad....and tuner don't need more orangefox making woft threads
orangefox wrote:j.o.e wrote:I voted 'No' because this is too complexed an issue to just say 'yes'........why have an Amnesty when our borders are a free for all, our health services, national security and education system is stretched beyond limit? Let's learn to take care of the population we already have and have a streamlined process for those who want to LEGITIMATELY become citizens. An amnesty will open the flood gates and only serve to increase squatting and other societal ills...we already have too many ppl fighting for scarce resources in Trinidad....and tuner don't need more orangefox making woft threads
Foreigners / "illegals" building TT Papi. The Amnesty is a done deal already.
Despite mounting a last-ditch legal challenge against their deportations, a group of illegal immigrants were yesterday sent back to West Africa aboard a Caribbean Airlines charter flight. The 11 men from Ghana, many of whom had been living in T&T for over ten years after arriving here illegally, were accompanied by immigration officials on the flight which left the Piarco International Airport around 7 am yesterday.
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