KINGSTON, Jamaica, (CMC)– A popular broadcaster and comedian, Christopher “Johnny” Daley is calling on Foreign Affairs Minister AJ Nicholson to condemn the latest incident in which Jamaican nationals “are targeted and profiled” by immigration and customs officials in Trinidad and Tobago.
Daley, in a message posted on his Facebook social webpage, said he and his wife were this week subjected to their “worst travel experiences” when they sought to enter the oil-rich twin island republic.
“A J Nicholson, Mr Minister of Foreign Affairs, there is much work to be done. We were suspects the minute we walked up to immigration. Without scanning our passports the Indian-looking officer took up a phone and called someone to indicate that she felt suspicious,” he wrote.
Last year, the foreign ministers of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago met in a bid to diffuse the situation after 13 Jamaican nationals were deported from Port of Spain, one day after arriving in the country in November.
Jamaica had been critical of the decision and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a warning to nationals travelling to Trinidad and Tobago and was continuing to interface with the relevant authorities in Trinidad and Tobago on the matter particularly in light of the Shanique Myrie ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
Nicholson and his Trinidad and Tobago counterpart, Winston Dookeran later signed an agreement outlining a path to improve free trade and free movement between the two countries. “I think we have …created a platform for addressing not only the issues which brought this meeting together, but for a wider set of considerations, both in our bilateral relations, and in the relations within the wider CARICOM (Caribbean Community),” Dookeran later said in a statement.
Daley claimed that after he had been interrogated by the immigration official he was allowed to make his way to the Customs department where they were also subjected to further embarrassment.
He claimed that he had his wife were the only ones searched by hand, and were asked to break open one of the beef patties they were taking for their hosts.
Daley said the interrogation continued by the Customs officer, while two policemen in plain clothes stood by.
“She seemed quite disappointed and annoyed that she found nothing alarming in our luggage and then she did the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever experienced. She asked if I was wearing two trousers …to which my response was an obvious no.
“Without hesitation she instructed me to go to a room with the two thug-looking men (police). I shook my head and reluctantly entered the tiny room,” he said where he searched.
“This has never happened before in all my years of travelling, not even in the United States, a country that is constantly having to protect its borders from terrorists. It was humiliating.
“[Minister] Nicholson, there was no respect shown to me and my wife. The Trinidad airport personnel seem to personally enjoy dragging us through the mud of their system,” he wrote, urging Jamaicans to ensure that when travelling to Port of Spain “please have all your ducks in a row and your T’s crossed if you need to travel to Trinidad and Tobago because we are being targeted.
“They had no good reason to treat my wife and I the way they did so I can only assume it’s our nationality that was the issue. It’s as if the immigration and Customs personnel have replaced the word Jamaican with criminal, so please be careful.”
Efforts to obtain a response from Trinidad and Tobago officials have so far been unsuccessful.
