An attempt to deport a Venezuelan woman who was granted refugee status in Trinidad by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has been blocked by the High Court, for now.
Justice Robin Mohammed on Wednesday night granted an injunction blocking any move to repatriate Lourdes de Rojas until an application is heard before Justice Devindra Rampersad next Monday.
The 55-year-old woman fled her homeland with her daughter and a neighbor and entered the twin-island republic by boat in November 2019. She subsequently lodged an asylum claim with the UNHCR in May 2020, and in January last year, she was informed she had been recognized as a refugee by the UNHCR. However, she was served with a deportation order the following month.
In an application to prevent the deportation, de Rojas’ legal team, which comprises Gerald Ramdeen, Dayadai Harripaul, Umesh Maharaj, and Nerisa Bala, pointed out that the UNHCR had “expressly stated that the claimant was protected from forcible return to Venezuela”.
“The claimant brought the UNHCR letter to the attention of the immigration officials. An immigration official, through an interpreter, informed the claimant that she had to be deported and, in the meantime, she had to keep presenting herself to immigration,” the lawyers stated, adding that their client was told the UNHCR letter was invalid and could not prevent her deportation.
Each time de Rojas went to the immigration division, she would be asked for her return ticket to Venezuela and was told to visit the Venezuelan Embassy so her name could be put on a list for voluntary repatriation.
“That was not an option for the claimant because she had no intention of voluntarily returning to Venezuela,” the injunction application stated.
She eventually went to the embassy on April 13, out of fear and desperation and was allegedly told it did not help anyone economically and she would have to keep waiting. The next day, she went to the immigration division and was given another order of supervision and told to return on April 21 with a ticket.
The application stated that the Venezuelan refugee was entitled to enjoy all the rights guaranteed to her under the Constitution and international law, and the steps being taken to deport her were “a most flagrant and abhorrent abuse of power” by the State to deprive her of those rights.
“The actions of the respondent to seek to deport the claimant while the claimant is a recognized refugee is in breach of the best interest principle, in breach of the provisions of the Immigration Act, in breach of the international obligations of the State of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, in breach of the national policy to address refugees and asylum and in breach of the Constitution and is a most oppressive, unconstitutional, and unlawful exercise of powers.
“Such action directly violates the international obligations of the Republic as being a member of the UN,” the application contended.
De Rosa had been residing in San Fernando with her daughter and one-year-old granddaughter who was born here and has a Trinidadian father.
CMC/
