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Wednesday, July 30, 2025

They're back! Venezuelans deported on Sunday return to T&T

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1709 days ago
20201124
The Venezuelan refugees had spent days on the water, before being brought back to Trinidad, after their deportation on Sunday 22 November 2020, before their court case could be heard.

The Venezuelan refugees had spent days on the water, before being brought back to Trinidad, after their deportation on Sunday 22 November 2020, before their court case could be heard.

SASCHA WIL­SON

 

Af­ter three days on the rough seas, 16 Venezue­lan chil­dren, the youngest a four-month-old ba­by and the el­dest child 14 years, along with 11 adults, most­ly women, re­turned to the shores of Trinidad.

Hun­gry and trem­bling from the cold, they ar­rived short­ly be­fore 1 pm in two pirogues at the Los Iros beach in Erin. 

They were de­port­ed on Sun­day, af­ter be­ing de­tained at a po­lice sta­tion for five days, just hours be­fore the start of court pro­ceed­ings re­gard­ing their sta­tus.  Jus­tice Ava­son Quilans-Williams sub­se­quent­ly or­dered the state to re­turn the mi­grants to the coun­try.  

Daniel, a Venezue­lan na­tion­al who is legal­ly reg­is­tered in Trinidad and who came to greet his cousins, said they had en­gine prob­lems out at sea and nev­er ar­rived in Venezuela.  He told Guardian Me­dia he was hap­py that they were back here.

Fyz­abad res­i­dent Tor­rence Far­ri­er was at the beach when he saw the boats com­ing in.

“We just no­tice that this boat was com­ing in with these peo­ple and what re­al­ly hurt me is the fact that there is a three-month-old child on the boat, and they had to pick up that child to bring that child here,” he told Guardian Me­dia.

Tor­rence Far­ri­er said he felt sad about how the mi­grants were treat­ed by the lo­cal au­thor­i­ties.

“They were cold and hun­gry… It hurt me. That’s why I say ‘Mom, what it have to eat?’ and I take the food and give them.”  He gave them a meal of chick­en, rice, and peas.

The mi­grants were tak­en away in a po­lice bus.

[This sto­ry will be up­dat­ed as more in­for­ma­tion comes to hand.]


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