Tweet
Jamaicans abused at Barbados airport
SHELDON WILLIAMS & CRYSTAL HARRISON, STAR Writers
Several Jamaicans who were recently denied entry into Barbados in separate incidents are furious with Barbadian immigration officers after they said they were discriminated against, sexually violated, assaulted, detained, and denied entry for the sole reason that they are Jamaicans.
The complainants also say they were labelled as drug mules as the immigration officers reportedly stereotyped all Jamaicans as being involved in drug trafficking.
One woman, Shanique Myrie, recounted her horror to THE STAR which took place last Monday.
"All you Jamaicans come here to do is either steal people's man or bring drugs here," Myrie said she was told by an immigration officer.
She added that after she arrived in Barbados she told immigration officers <span style="font-weight: bold">that her purpose for visiting was to stay with a friend who she met over the Internet</span> but they did not believe her.
She said that she was immediately escorted to a room where she was questioned by two unidentified persons who continued to accuse her of lying about her reasons for visiting Barbados.
Interestingly, she emphasised that even after she gave them all the contact details for the person she was visiting and her story was verified, immigration officers continued to intimidate her, accused her of being a liar and began degrading all Jamaicans.
strip searched
She said that her luggage was searched for contraband and even when nothing illegal was found, the intimidation continued.
According to Myrie, at one stage she was escorted into a room, where the unidentified man returned with her passport in his hand, showing her that she was cleared to enter Barbados but her entry would be cancelled if she did not tell them the truth.
She maintained her innocence and was then escorted to the bathroom area where she was strip searched, "I felt like I was being raped," Myrie recounted.
Myrie said she was then returned to the room and it was then that the female immigration officer who searched her allegedly told Myrie that, "You are a liar, I don't like you Jamaicans, you are all liars. You think you're going to come here and (mess) up my country. It's not going to happen."
Myrie said she later asked if she could make a call to Jamaica to inform her family of what was taking place, but she was not allowed to do so.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Afterwards, Myrie said she asked if she could contact the Jamaican High Commission but was told by another immigration officer that, "If you know what is good for you, you will shut your mouth,". </span>
She explained that she was later escorted to a windowless room which had a single cot where she was detained overnight in uncomfortable circumstances.
It was there that she said she met another Jamaican woman who was also detained.
"The cot was definitely too small for both of us to lay on at the same time, so we took turns laying and sitting while we recounted our horrifying ordeal," Myrie remarked.
The following morning, Myrie and the other Jamaican woman were escorted to a flight destined for Jamaica and she is yet to be informed why she was denied entry into Barbados.
"At no point during this entire ordeal did any of these persons identify themselves to me. I did not resist any orders, nor did I refuse to answer any questions. No drugs were ever found on me or my luggage. Therefore, I must ask if the treatment meted out to me was based solely on the fact that I am Jamaican?"
<span style="font-weight: bold">In another incident, members of the Jamaican record label, Deja Vu Records, Chevine, Jermaine, and Andre, were stopped upon arrival at the Grantley Adams International Airport. </span>
entertainment ventures
Their passports were seized and their luggage searched. No contraband was said to have been found among their possession and they were questioned as to their purpose in the island. The three individuals said they told the airport immigration officials that it was to promote an artiste on radio stations and establish communication lines for entertainment ventures.
They said that they were asked other questions such as if they who supplied coke to Buju Banton and how were they coming to Barbados and not bringing any 'Bob Marley, which was their term for marijuana.
They were denied entry and when they requested a phone call that request was denied as well while the officials tauntingly laughed.
The officials are said to have attempted to place them in a room which was in a very deplorable condition. When they refused they were slammed in the wall, kicked and punched into the room and kept there until the next morning without food or water. They were put on the first flight back to Jamaica.
When contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade confirmed that they received a formal complaint from Myrie detailed in a letter yesterday.
THE STAR also received a copy of the letter.
Head of Public Relations and Media Affairs at the Ministry, Ann-Margaret Lim, told THE STAR that an official enquiry will be conducted and contact will be made with the Barbadian Foreign Ministry.
"We will interview her and then make a formal enquiry to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade in Barbados for their response and our follow through," Lim emphasised.
At the same time, "It is something that has come up from time to time and is something that has gone to the Caricom level," Lim explained.
<span style="font-weight: bold">The Ministry also confirmed that they have received formal complainants from several Jamaicans who say they were also detained and denied entry into Barbados before being returned to Jamaica without any explanation recently.</span>
Hasani Walters also contributed to this story.
SHELDON WILLIAMS & CRYSTAL HARRISON, STAR Writers
Several Jamaicans who were recently denied entry into Barbados in separate incidents are furious with Barbadian immigration officers after they said they were discriminated against, sexually violated, assaulted, detained, and denied entry for the sole reason that they are Jamaicans.
The complainants also say they were labelled as drug mules as the immigration officers reportedly stereotyped all Jamaicans as being involved in drug trafficking.
One woman, Shanique Myrie, recounted her horror to THE STAR which took place last Monday.
"All you Jamaicans come here to do is either steal people's man or bring drugs here," Myrie said she was told by an immigration officer.
She added that after she arrived in Barbados she told immigration officers <span style="font-weight: bold">that her purpose for visiting was to stay with a friend who she met over the Internet</span> but they did not believe her.
She said that she was immediately escorted to a room where she was questioned by two unidentified persons who continued to accuse her of lying about her reasons for visiting Barbados.
Interestingly, she emphasised that even after she gave them all the contact details for the person she was visiting and her story was verified, immigration officers continued to intimidate her, accused her of being a liar and began degrading all Jamaicans.
strip searched
She said that her luggage was searched for contraband and even when nothing illegal was found, the intimidation continued.
According to Myrie, at one stage she was escorted into a room, where the unidentified man returned with her passport in his hand, showing her that she was cleared to enter Barbados but her entry would be cancelled if she did not tell them the truth.
She maintained her innocence and was then escorted to the bathroom area where she was strip searched, "I felt like I was being raped," Myrie recounted.
Myrie said she was then returned to the room and it was then that the female immigration officer who searched her allegedly told Myrie that, "You are a liar, I don't like you Jamaicans, you are all liars. You think you're going to come here and (mess) up my country. It's not going to happen."
Myrie said she later asked if she could make a call to Jamaica to inform her family of what was taking place, but she was not allowed to do so.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Afterwards, Myrie said she asked if she could contact the Jamaican High Commission but was told by another immigration officer that, "If you know what is good for you, you will shut your mouth,". </span>
She explained that she was later escorted to a windowless room which had a single cot where she was detained overnight in uncomfortable circumstances.
It was there that she said she met another Jamaican woman who was also detained.
"The cot was definitely too small for both of us to lay on at the same time, so we took turns laying and sitting while we recounted our horrifying ordeal," Myrie remarked.
The following morning, Myrie and the other Jamaican woman were escorted to a flight destined for Jamaica and she is yet to be informed why she was denied entry into Barbados.
"At no point during this entire ordeal did any of these persons identify themselves to me. I did not resist any orders, nor did I refuse to answer any questions. No drugs were ever found on me or my luggage. Therefore, I must ask if the treatment meted out to me was based solely on the fact that I am Jamaican?"
<span style="font-weight: bold">In another incident, members of the Jamaican record label, Deja Vu Records, Chevine, Jermaine, and Andre, were stopped upon arrival at the Grantley Adams International Airport. </span>
entertainment ventures
Their passports were seized and their luggage searched. No contraband was said to have been found among their possession and they were questioned as to their purpose in the island. The three individuals said they told the airport immigration officials that it was to promote an artiste on radio stations and establish communication lines for entertainment ventures.
They said that they were asked other questions such as if they who supplied coke to Buju Banton and how were they coming to Barbados and not bringing any 'Bob Marley, which was their term for marijuana.
They were denied entry and when they requested a phone call that request was denied as well while the officials tauntingly laughed.
The officials are said to have attempted to place them in a room which was in a very deplorable condition. When they refused they were slammed in the wall, kicked and punched into the room and kept there until the next morning without food or water. They were put on the first flight back to Jamaica.
When contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade confirmed that they received a formal complaint from Myrie detailed in a letter yesterday.
THE STAR also received a copy of the letter.
Head of Public Relations and Media Affairs at the Ministry, Ann-Margaret Lim, told THE STAR that an official enquiry will be conducted and contact will be made with the Barbadian Foreign Ministry.
"We will interview her and then make a formal enquiry to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade in Barbados for their response and our follow through," Lim emphasised.
At the same time, "It is something that has come up from time to time and is something that has gone to the Caricom level," Lim explained.
<span style="font-weight: bold">The Ministry also confirmed that they have received formal complainants from several Jamaicans who say they were also detained and denied entry into Barbados before being returned to Jamaica without any explanation recently.</span>
Hasani Walters also contributed to this story.
Comment