30 Haitians repatriated

Boundbrook, Portland:

Thirty Haitians who were among a group that landed illegally on a beach in Kensington, eastern Portland, on Sunday were repatriated yesterday.

The group, comprised of adult males and females, and children, was transported from a holding area in Manchioneal to the Boundbrook Wharf facility by the police, where they boarded a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) Coast Guard vessel en route to their violence-torn homeland.

The police are still searching for the remaining five Haitians who were still in hiding last night, after fleeing the rocky beach area at Kensington upon their arrival on Sunday.

In the meantime, in a letter sent to Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness by founder of Freedom Imaginaries Malene Alleyne on September 24, she requested that the group of Haitians be granted access to a fair and effective procedure for the individualised assessment of their international protection needs, including eligibility for refuge status.

“We note with grave concern that Jamaica has applied a zero-tolerance policy towards Haitian migrants and asylum seekers,” Alleyne stated in the letter.

“This has involved systematic practices of criminalisation for irregular entry, arbitrary detention in inhumane and degrading conditions, family separation, and collective expulsion without the due process or individual assessments of protection needs,” she added.

The 30 Haitian refugees, who reportedly fled their country as a result of political unrest, gang warfare, persecution, famine, and a lack of economic opportunities, were found hiding in bushes following three days of intense search by the police and members of the JDF.

The search is set to resume this morning for the remaining five Haitians, who entered Jamaica’s shores undetected.

Gareth Davis Sr