The move by immigration officials here sending back a group of 15 Haitian nationals who arrived here last Sunday from Trinidad and Tobago doesn’t sit well with Member of Parliament, Peter David.
Head of the Immigration Department, Superintendent Leroy Joseph, says the group comprising seven women and eight men ranging between the ages of 20 and 40 had arrived here as tourists.
They were denied entry and sent packing back to their port of embarkation in the Twin Isle Republic.
The public’s view is that the group may have been fleeing Haiti from persecution on account of the country’s instability caused by the poor economic and heinous criminal activities that put their lives in peril.
However, Joseph says the group had not sought refugee status or political asylum but noted that the Haitian nationals would be a burden on the public budget.
Prime Minister, Dickon Mitchell, noted that the Immigration officers, during their normal routine checks, were able to ascertain that the Haitians would have been a charge on the public purse, if they were permitted to enter the state.
Opposition MP Peter David believes the treatment was not one of compassion.
David says there’s a historic consideration that must not be taken for granted with regionalism and the plight of the Haitian people.
