MORE than two dozen Venezuelan migrants who entered Trinidad and Tobago illegally and were arrested in July 2020 will receive a total of $2.4 million in compensation for their illegal detention at two police stations in the southwestern police district.
Last week’s order by Justice Carol Gobin could be the first award to illegal migrants locally. The judge’s order came after the State conceded in its legal challenge and judgment was entered against the Attorney General. Before that took place, the group was released , on August 17, 2020, and put on supervision orders by the immigration division.
Gobin was tasked to assess compensation for three cases and the parties agreed that the awards made on those will be adopted in the remaining cases.
The cases before Gobin were selected because they involved an adult male, an adult female and a child as a cross-section of the larger group.
In total, at least 16 minors would benefit from Gobin’s assessment and receive $1,760,000 in damages while at least 13 adults would receive $650,000.
In her ruling, Gobin advocated the need for clarity in the enforcement of immigration laws to assist police and immigration officers.
“As these cases show, if the point of their crackdowns, raids and immigration interventions was to deter illegal migrants, and to enforce the law, then the lack of follow-through by the minister after their efforts might well be undermining their efforts.”
She said although the group’s detention was “inevitable,” since they entered TT illegally, there was an inordinate and lamentable delay of 14 days in the police co-ordinating with immigration authorities, who also experienced interference in their operations because of covid19.
She did not award them “substantial damages” for the “loss of something which, as migrants who are here illegally, could not enjoy,” but awarded them “nominal and vindicatory damages” for the “inhumane and degrading conditions” under which they were detained.
“For the children, it was simply cruel.”
The men were detained at the Siparia police station in dark, hot cells and the women and children stayed in corridors at the Fyzabad station without privacy and with no provisions for their hygiene.
According to the evidence, the group were arrested at Red Brick Trace, Oropouche, in the early hours of July 26, 2020. They were released on July 31, 2020, after they were interviewed by immigration officials.
In her ruling, Gobin acknowledged that immigration policy was a matter for the government.
However, she said, “These cases show that clarity in the policy in relation to economic migrants is necessary.
“More than three years have passed since the claimants were arrested in July 2020. They are still here and remain at large.”
She said immigration officials said they were waiting for the Minister of National Security and the Attorney General to be told what to do with them. She said the supervision orders have been routinely renewed subject to certain conditions, two of which cloud the immigration policy.
