The Office of the Chief Immigration Officer (CIO) has been held in contempt of court for deporting two Venezuelan migrants when there was an injunction in place for them to remain in Trinidad.
High Court Judge Nadia Kangaloo made the order yesterday as she upheld an application from lawyers for Julie Stephanie Vivas Abanero and Neyelis Del Valle Hernandez Ugas.
When the application was first made in 2020 during the tenure of former CIO Charmaine Gandhi-Andrews, the duo’s lawyers led by Lee Merry, SC, were initially seeking the contempt order as well as an undefined fine.
However, they withdrew the request for the latter when presenting submissions on application.
As part of her decision, Justice Kangaloo ordered the State to pay the duo’s legal costs for the application.
Both women fled their country due to ongoing social and economic issues and arrived in Moruga via a boat.
They were eventually arrested for entering T&T illegally in November 2018 and were sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to the offence.
After serving their sentences at the Golden Grove Women’s Prison in Arouca, they were transferred to the Immigration Detention Centre in Aripo to await deportation.
They spent several months at the centre before their lawyers filed a judicial review challenging their lengthy detention before proposed deportation.
On November 16, 2019, High Court Judge Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell granted an injunction ordering that they not be deported pending the determination of their lawsuit.
In the contempt of court application, the duo’s lawyers contended that they emailed Donaldson-Honeywell’s order to Gandhi-Andrews and then-Deputy Chief Immigration Officer Derek Craigwell.
They also claimed that they spoke to Craigwell via telephone but he claimed that he could not provide any assistance.
The lawyers even called the cellphone of one of the women and asked them to hand it over to the flight attendant, who claimed that she could not do anything without permission from immigration officials.
Gandhi-Andrews retired in 2023.
The duo was also represented by Lemuel Murphy, and Devvon Williams.