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Jail for Afrikans
T&T Immigration Policy
Red Carpet treatment for Chinese immigrants
November/December 2004 Issue No. 21
Published in Trinidad and Tobago
Posted: January 26, 2005
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Over the past decade or so, there has been an influx of foreigners to the shores of Trinidad and Tobago due to our good economic fortunes. There are immigrants from many parts of the world including countries like America, Australia, England, Canada, Germany and China, most of whom are employed in our Energy Sector.
However, in the case of a large number of Chinese immigrants, most of whom are peasants, who have come to this country to seek economic benefits, they bring no particular expertise to Trinidad and Tobago. Most are employed in the restaurant business yet, they are afforded special treatment by our Immigration Department, as against Afrikan people from the continent.
Chinese immigrants are given “Red Carpet” type of treatment by Trinidad and Tobago Immigration Department. They are afforded lengthy and numerous extensions of their allotted time to stay in this country.
They are allowed to enter the country in large groups at anytime and gain their work permit almost immediately; while Afrikan immigrants are refused or given a few weeks extension. Should they fail to depart on time, they are hounded down and imprisoned.
For the past 14 months this uncivilised and barbaric PNM government, has kept a 23 year old Afrikan youth name Sillar Bacarra, imprisoned for having overstayed his time in Trinidad and Tobago.
The young Gambian national has Caribbean roots, his mother is Haitian and his father, who died recently, was a native of Gambia. On the death of his father he migrated to Haiti, and while there he met members of the Trinidad and Tobago football team who were playing against the Haitians and he was impressed enough to come to Trinidad and Tobago.
He then booked a flight to this country and on his arrival, he stayed at a Guest House close to the American Embassy, where he paid $90 per day.
He sought cheaper accommodation because that sum became a burden on his finances. He obtained a room at Kelly Village where he remained until he was arrested, having made an application for extension in Tobago. This was refused.
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In keeping with its racist and colonial policy which Immigration officials vehemently implement against Afrikan nationals, whether they are professionals or peasants, Bacarra was thrown in jail (without any legal representation) and forgotten. Not even racist America and England treat Afrikan people in such a barbaric manner for immigration violations.
These acts of discrimination against Afrikan people by Immigration officers and policemen, who have been known to take away their belongings, which just disappear, have existed for almost three decades and under both the PNM and the UNC governments.
The first case reported to us, involved a Ghanaian national who was imprisoned and badly beaten by prison guards in 1980 to date, to date he still walks with a limp from those injuries and his legal matter for compensation against the State, is still before the Privy Council.
Among the immigration matters that gained much public attention were the imprisonment of Dr. Niadikie; Ali Marah; a group of Haitians, a group of Nigerians and four yound men from Liberia, all of whom are Afrikans, most of them were brutalised and imprisoned, including Dr. Niadikie.
While the Ministry of National Security, the Immigration Department, the Police Service and the prison officers engage in an amalgamation of barbarism against Afrikan people, these same institutions are overly accommodation to Spanish and Chinese people, the latter making a serious difference to our national population.
If there is a reason for this discriminatory policy of Government as it relates to Afrikan immigrants as opposed to those from China, it may be the Government’s belief that the people of T&T are in dire need of chow mein and chop Suey for their survival, hence it’s immigration policy.
Afrikan doctors, electricians or other skilled persons are not allowed or not wanted.
The rude arrival of these Afrikans whose major crime is entering the wrong plantation, has made it incumbent upon our neo-colonial Government to punish them in a most vicious manner in keeping with colonial policies.
Unfortunately, this course of action has the sanction of Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, who has been approached to assist in these matters.
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