Multiple issues came to a head at the Immigration Department today. Senior officers - speaking on the condition of anonymity - have told 7News of their disappointment that a meeting scheduled for this morning at the Laing building with Director of Border Management and Immigration Services, Debra Baptist Estrada, CEO Gilroy Middleton and Minister Eamon Courtenay was postponed at short notice. The senior officers, including all Port Commanders, have been asking for the meeting to ventilate their many concerns.
Immigration officers are also concerned about the Department's treatment of a Haitian couple who arrived in the country over the weekend. They were detained in Orange Walk yesterday - and one of them - an expecting mother - was hospitalized with complications. Sources tell us she has since been released and is at a hotel.
The couple has retained attorney Rene Montero Jr who today wrote to the Immigration Department saying, quote, "our clients have been unlawfully...detained by the Immigration Department since yesterday...during the detention our clients were not fed or given sufficient water. This illegal detention has placed severe stress on Mrs. Joseph who is six months…pregnant. We are instructed that she is…experiencing complications with her pregnancy and is currently at the KHMH....the Immigration Department has placed the country...in a very precarious situation and has opened itself to a potential lawsuit..." End quote.
Montero demanded an answer by noon today - which was not forthcoming - and has threatened suit.
We are told that the Director suspects human smuggling and wants the couple returned to Haiti. But, as CARICOM nationals they were given the standard six month stay in Belize.
Minister Courtenay told us, quote, "The 2 Haitians have been treated appropriately by Immigration officers. I regret that some immigration officers would resort to the media regarding the way in which their colleagues have managed a delicate situation." He added, "The flow of persons moving thru Belize pretending to be tourists will be addressed according to law and the introduction of appropriate measures."
The differences of opinion over the handling of this case has deepened rifts in the department where staffers we spoke with indicate strong resentment for the Director, who, reliable sources say, continues to enjoy the confidence of the political directorate and Belize's international partners, primarily the US.
