PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) : ‘Don’t be intimidated by Jamaica’ Former national security minister Gary Griffith blames CSME for Jamaica/TT migration problems.... Griffith claimed that more than 20,000 Jamaicans were residing in Trinidad/Tobago illegally and have become a burden on the state.

 Tuesday, April 26, 2016

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Former National Security Minister Gary Griffith is urging the Trinidad and Tobago Government not to be intimidated by calls out of Jamaica for that Caribbean Community (Caricom) country to seek legal action regarding the deportation of Jamaican nationals.

GRIFFITH... it is indeed alarming that the Jamaican
 Opposition would question the legitimate actions by
 our immigration officers as they attempt daily to do their jobs

Griffith, in a statement, claimed that more than 20,000 Jamaicans were residing here illegally and have become a burden on the state.

Last week, Caricom Deputy Secretary-General Ambassador Dr Manorma Soeknandan said there was need for more sensitisation among regional border officials regarding the rules and procedures governing free travel within the 15-member grouping.

Soeknandan said that the way Caricom nationals were treated as they travelled regionally continued to generate discussion. Jamaica has, in the past few weeks, been critical of the decision of immigration officials in Trinidad and Tobago to send back some of their nationals, claiming that they were being deported because they would be a drain on the local economy.

Jamaicans have called for a boycott of goods from Port of Spain and earlier last week an Opposition legislator called on the new Andrew Holness Government to take the matter before the Caribbean Court of Justice.

But Griffith, who served as national security minister in the former government, said “It is indeed alarming that the Jamaican Opposition would question the legitimate actions by our immigration officers as they attempt daily to do their jobs, after being abused constantly by a few Jamaican nationals who attempt to enter our country without the appropriate requirements and documentation.

“It is because of this that there are over 20,000 Jamaican nationals who have done just that — by using the CSME (Caricom Single Market and Economy) angle to enter for six months, but then refuse to leave after that six-month period. more