15894: Nadal: Re: Human smuggling (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Olivier Nadal <o_nadal@bellsouth.net>

Dominica confirms human smuggling
13 juin 2003
http://www.thedailyherald.com/news/daily/g22/ilegl22.html
The Daily Herald

PHILIPSBURG--Authorities of the Commonwealth of Dominica have confirmed that
there is a ring based on their island that facilitates the smuggling of
human beings to other islands, including St. Maarten.
They have also confirmed that many nationals of Haiti and the Dominican
Republic enter Dominica legally after arriving there by chartered planes,
receive permission to stay for one week, but apparently leave "through the
back door."
"We are very much aware of the situation and we are indeed concerned, but it
is difficult," Assistant Superintendent of Police in Dominica Cyril
Carrette, stated in an exclusive interview with The Daily Herald Thursday.
Carrette, who is also the force's Public Relations Officer, added : "We know
that there are people here bringing them in, but you have to catch them in
the act."
Persons involved in the illegal smuggling ring apparently establish contact
with the would-be illegal migrants in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, meet
them on their arrival at the airport in Dominica, then arrange for them to
be smuggled either into Guadeloupe or St. Croix, or into St. Thomas or St.
Maarten.
However, according to Carrette, "Picking up someone from the airport is not
a crime."
He said, "They usually come in on charters and in the past we would turn
around the plane before they disembarked."
However, that is no longer the case, because Haiti has observer status and
there has been a claim of infringing on the "hassle-free travel privileges"
of Haitians, as well as of the nationals of the Dominican Republic.
He said the authorities' hands were tied if these persons could present the
required EC $1,000 and a contact person or an address on the island, along
with a valid return ticket, and they are allowed to enter the island.
He also noted that the authorities had had to release 21 illegal migrants of
Chinese nationality who were caught on the island a week ago, because
Government did not have the EC $210,000 required to send them back to China.
"The Coast Guard here is controlled by police and they monitor the coastal
waters in search of these people, but when we go out they stay quiet and
wait until we rest. You have to realize that we don't have the manpower to
patrol the area for as long as we would like and that is our weakness,"
Carrette explained.
He also confirmed that there had been some official contact between the St.
Maarten and Dominica governments in connection with the recent spate of
human smuggling activities using Dominica as a transshipment point, which
have resulted in five boats being confiscated by St. Maarten authorities and
more than 60 persons being deported from the island within the last two
weeks.
"We conduct our own raids here and we are in a situation where we have to
release some of them who don't have any money or a return ticket, because we
cannot pay to deport them," Carrette explained.
He referred to cases in which would-be illegal migrants had been arrested
more than once. There were also cases in which the Dominica authorities had
retained possession of monetary deposits or the passports of the would-be
migrants, but they left the island without collecting their passports and
deposits.