President Ali revokes visa-free travel order for Haitians

− amid growing concerns over human trafficking, unaccounted-for Haitians who arrived in Guyana

In order to curb the high influx of Haitians who are suspected to be victims of human trafficking, President Dr Irfaan Ali has signed an Immigration Revocation Order, which effectively removes Haiti from the list of countries whose nationals enjoy visa-free travel to Guyana.

President Dr Irfaan Ali

Haiti was added to the list through an order under the Immigration Act by former President David Granger in January 2019. Guyana had joined only two other Caricom Member States that allowed Haitian nationals visa-free entry.
However, with the order now being revoked by President Ali, Haitian citizens will no longer enjoy an automatic six-month stay upon arrival in the country.
Government was forced to implement this visa restriction in light of growing concerns of human trafficking coupled with the fact that more than 30,000 Haitian nationals who entered Guyana over the past few years could not be accounted for, as there were no records of them leaving.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC

In fact, data seen by Guyana Times show that as many as 9239 Haitians entered Guyana in 2020, but only 717 were documented as leaving. So far for 2021, 1378 Haitians were documented entering Guyana and records show only 165 have left.
Further, figures over the past six years revealed that some 38,187 Haitian nationals are unaccounted for. It was reported that during the period 2015 to present, of the 42,100 Haitians who entered Guyana, only 3913 were shown to have left the country.
During this week’s edition of “Issues in the News”, Attorney General Anil Nandlall explained that Government’s decision was based on the suspicions that these persons were part of a human smuggling ring of international stature involving not just Haitians but also Cubans and Venezuelans.
Nandlall on Tuesday made reference to last week’s discovery of 10 Haitian teens, including one who was pregnant, who were found in a hotel at Skeldon, East Berbice without any passport or ID. He explained that the teens were being looked after at the Hugo Chávez Centre on the West Coast of Berbice as Police conduct investigations.
“These are the classic trappings of a human smuggling ring, where you have young women, young men and people deposit them. They come through the backtrack route illegally, and the person just disappeared with their passport. And they are left in a hotel room, to become a charge on the State.

The Haitians who were intercepted in Guyana last year (File photo)

“Well, there are laws to govern these situations…we have to tackle this issue, once and for all. Only three countries in the Caribbean are visa free for Haitians. All the other Caribbean countries had to put in place visa requirements. Guyana will be moving in that direction,” the Attorney General stated.
Guyana has previously been flagged as a transit point for narcotics trafficking but more recently, has seen increases in both Haitians and Cubans using the country as a conduit to get to neighbouring States – with some passing through the Region to eventually get to the United States through Mexico.
Only in February, Federal Police in neighbouring Brazil arrested 27 immigrants – 26 Haitians and one Cuban – who illegally entered the border town of Bom Fin from Guyana.
It was reported that the Haitians were initially denied entry into Brazil from Lethem, but authorities there were suspicious that the immigrants would try to sneak in the country through the porous border hence they partnered with Guyana’s Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) to intercept them, along with two taxi drivers.
Back in December, AG Nandlall had disclosed that the Brazilian Government had complained about immigrants using Guyana as a transit point.

“We have a complaint from the Brazilian Government to say that Guyana is being used as a trans-shipment point for people smuggling into Brazil. And we are being blamed for this. We are not an island. We are a mainland. And we have extraordinarily wide borders that are almost impossible to monitor and police,” Nandlall had said during an interview with Trinidad’s Morning Edition in December 2020.
This was after Police in E Division (Linden-Kwakwani) had arrested 26 Haitians who had reportedly entered Guyana illegally in November last year. They were reportedly intercepted in two minibuses at Mabura Trail, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) and subsequently detained after it was discovered that they had entered the country illegally via Suriname.
Police related that the foreign nationals were en route to neighbouring Brazil at the time of interception.
The Haitians were placed in protective custody at the Hugo Chávez Centre, and Magistrate Sherdel Issacs-Marcus had granted an order to deport them after being approached by the Immigration Office.
However, the Association of Haitian Nationals in Guyana successfully approached acting Chief Justice Roxane George on December 3, to block the deportation until the constitutionality of the Haitians’ detention came up for the hearing of arguments on December 18.
But before the hearing could come up, the 26 Haitians who were subsequently released by local authorities pending the determination of the court proceedings disappeared from their city dwelling.
This publication had visited the guest house, where it was confirmed that the 26 Haitians, including children, had left in two Route 94 minibuses (which ply the Georgetown to Lethem Route).