Last night on 7NEWS you heard from an angry group of young women from Belize City, all born Belizeans, and very much looking it, who were detained on the Western Highway for 40 minutes by Immigration authorities because they didn't have IDs proving that they are citizens.
At the time, they were on their way to a graduation ceremony for the Entra 21 programme which offers computer training to young women who are seeking to gain employable skills. Apart from being a violation of their constitutional rights, it's also a major public relations misstep for immigration authorities.
And that's why today the Immigration Department offered an unreserved apology. The release says, "it was indeed an error in discretion on the part of the officers (at) the checkpoint." The release explains that such checkpoints are meant to intercept human trafficking. The release says, "we apologize for the incident and...ensure that there is no future recurrence."
Still, project manager Pauline Wade says that act of public contrition won't do, she wants the officer who was in charge Of the checkpoint to apologize in person.
