CARISA LEE

As the world com­mem­o­rates In­ter­na­tion­al Mi­grants Day, the Op­po­si­tion is call­ing for the cre­ation of an In­ter-Min­is­te­r­i­al Task Force that can as­sess the con­di­tions of mi­grants in Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Ac­cord­ing to the Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for Cou­va South, Rudranath In­dars­ingh MP, the Gov­ern­ment’s han­dling of in­com­ing mi­grants—main­ly those from Venezuela—has been care­less, in­sen­si­tive, in­ef­fi­cient, and in­con­sis­tent with glob­al best prac­tices.

“This Gov­ern­ment failed to pro­tect mi­grants against crit­i­cal is­sues such as the il­le­gal seizure of pass­ports, the ex­tend­ed de­ten­tion of mi­grants at the In­ter­na­tion­al De­ten­tion Cen­tre, and the rise of Venezue­lan gangs,” In­dars­ingh said.

The Op­po­si­tion MP not­ed that from a labour per­spec­tive, the in­te­gra­tion of Venezue­lan labour in­to the lo­cal econ­o­my con­tin­ues to be a con­cern, as they con­tin­ue to be ex­ploit­ed by un­scrupu­lous em­ploy­ers.

He added that Venezue­lans con­tin­ue to be sub­ject to eco­nom­ic and sex­u­al ex­ploita­tion.

MP In­dars­ingh al­so re­called nine-month-old ba­by Yaelvis San­toyo Sara­bia, who was shot in the head by the Coast Guard ear­li­er this year, point­ing out that the gov­ern­ment mis­han­dled that sit­u­a­tion as well.