Immigration Chief to Appear In Court over Deportation Attempt of 38 Haitians

The Chief Immigration Officer may appear in court to defend the unilateral decision he took to deport 38 Haitians from Dominica, Attorney Wayne Norde said. The lawyer representing some of the 38 Haitians who had overstayed their visas in the country said the Chief Immigration Officer attempted to deport the Haitians without a removal order issued by any courts, and against an existing order from a magistrate to isolate the immigrants until further court orders.

According to Norde, he quickly applied for a Habeas Corpus in the high court to stop the Haitians from deportation after he learnt that they were being moved to the Douglas Charles Airport to board a waiting plane. A habeas corpus is a writ issued by a judge to have a prisoner brought before the court, or a writ offering protection against illegal imprisonment. The attorney said he moved swiftly after the relatives of the Haitians contacted him for help.

“I got various calls from various family members of the Haitian nationals that they were being taken from the police station sometime after five this morning to be brought to the airport,” Norde said. “The judge did grant our application and ordered that the Chief Immigration Officer, his representatives or agents are prohibited from deporting all the applicants until further order of the court…”

The Haitians had been in police detention in Grandbay, St. Joseph, and Roseau for a couple weeks for entering the country illegally through the back door and for overstaying their visas. Norde said the police, obviously on the instructions of the Chief Immigration Officer, moved the detainees and transported them to the airport before he applied to the court for a temporary order to stop their deportation.

The attorney said the Chief Immigration Officer may likely be in court on Friday, August 14, 2020, to explain his authority to deport the Haitians without an express removal order and against an existing court restraint to keep the immigrants in the country until the court decides their fate. Following the intervention of the court, the 38 immigrants have been returned to police custody pending the determination of their case.

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