Backlash from Sunset laws

CRICKET WORLD CUP’S Sunset Legislation might be no more but its effects are still being felt two years later by the island’s Immigration Department.Some non-nationals, who took advantage of the free movement for cricket fans among the hosting cricket tournament countries, are still here illegally.And according to one immigration officer, tracking them down is proving to be a problem for the department.The issue was highlighted when another one of those illegal immigrants – a Guyanese – turned up in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court on a theft charge.After hearing that the painter had originally been granted 30 days as a visitor in 2007, presiding Magistrate Pamela Beckles asked if had it not been for his crime, would the Guyanese  have remained undetected and illegal in the country?“This happens all the time. When their 30 days are up, doesn’t the department check on them?” the magistrate asked an immigration official.“We’ve got a big problem with the people that had come down here for Cricket World Cup. They were coming in and presenting immigration forms and remaining,” the official said.“The Sunset Legislation has created havoc for us in that we don’t know where they are,” he explained.The official said the Immigration Department had made its concerns known and, as a result, officers did not have the same issues with this year’s T20 regional tournament.“Was there any reason you stayed on?” Magistrate Beckles then asked the illegal Guyanese.“I like it here,” he said. He was later released into the custody of the immigration officials.The Sunset Legislation, so called because it ceased to be effective when Cricket World Cup ended, allowed ticket holders a special visa which was a critical component of security measures being introduced to permit them to move freely between the ten host countries without further immigration formalities after they had arrived in any one country.