After being in “protective custody” for three weeks and hours after the Attorney General Chambers distributed three affidavits in support of the State’s defense that the 26 Haitians, who were being detained breached immigration laws, the Guyana Government has released those nationals.
On Wednesday night at about 10:30, the Haitians were seen huddled together with their belongings outside of the city hotel they were initially removed from.
While at the Hugo Chavez Centre for Rehabilitation and Reintegration at Onverwagt, Region Five, the nationals had complained that ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) had taken their money, totaling some US$1000, and their colognes.
The owner of the hotel said that his security guard called him and informed him of this development. He said that he was making preparations to accommodate them, but only 12 of the persons were initially at the hotel.
The Haitians themselves complaining about the inhumane conditions being meted out against them.
The Haitian nationals arrived in Guyana on November 7, 2020, and were subsequently apprehended by a contingent of police officers under arms and taken into custody at the Criminal Investigative Department (CID) Headquarters.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had said that they were being kept in “protective custody” after it was suspected that they are victims of human trafficking.
After being detained for a while, the President of the Association of Haitian Nationals in Guyana, Kesnel Toussaint, had moved to the High Court asking for an order that the nationals be released from police custody.
However, on December 1, 2020, Principal Magistrate Sherdel-Isaacs-Marcus, at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, issued an order for the nationals to be taken to the nearest port of exit on the grounds that they violated Guyana’s immigration laws.
But the proceedings filed by Toussaint were heard on December 3, 2020, and Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George- Wiltshire, on December 3, 2020, issued a conservatory order suspending the deportation of 26 Haitian nationals. The case comes up again on December 18, 2020, at 13:30h.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General, in his affidavits, maintained that the Haitian nationals lied to immigration officers about where they would be staying. This, he said, is a violation of the immigration laws.
