Jamaican Man Injured in Attempted Escape from Immigration Detention

Tonight, a 37-year-old Jamaican national is nursing a broken leg after he jumped through a hotel window hoping to escape the arms of immigration officers.  The incident occurred reportedly occurred on Friday night when Devon Dean was denied entry by Immigration at the Philip Goldson International Airport along with eleven others.  The Caribbean nationals arrived in Belize earlier this month and have been detained since at Global Village Hotel near the entrance of the airport road with plans for deportation.  Love News understands that Dean, along with two other Jamaicans have retained the legal services of Attorney Norman Rodriguez who has since filed an application for judicial review in court, essentially delaying the deportation of the trio.  According to Rodriguez, his three clients came as tourists to Belize with round trip tickets and hotel reservations as are required for all Jamaicans entering the country.

Norman Rodriguez, Attorney: “Some were let in and some were denied entry. I don’t know how these officers decide whether to let in somebody or not because the Immigration Act, Section 5.1, I would want to believe A, is clear on who is a prohibited immigrant. There’s a list of prohibited immigrants under that section but A would apply to people coming in from the Caribbean and specifically from Jamaica as Jamaicans and as CARICOM residents. But I believe it’s a bad exercise of discretion if it is not malicious. Some were let in and these others were detained. The same thing happened, they were taken down to the hotel and they have been detained there up to this day. We made applications which stayed the immigration officer or the immigration department from sending them back to Jamaica. But you have to question it, to these people they believe that they are refused entry wrongfully because they showed to these immigration officers that they did not come into Belize to be a charge on public funds. And that is the only ground they could have been refused on because in Durandine’s case he had 2000 US which the immigration officer satisfied himself that he had. He had his hotel booking and he had his flight itinerary back to Jamaica to leave on the 22nd of this month.”

For Attorney Norman Rodriguez, he believes that there is a clear discrimination happening against Jamaican nationals.  He noted that such actions by the immigration officials do not send a proper message to Jamaican officials or CARICOM in general.  Additionally, the attorney claims that his clients have not been given an oral or formal notice for the basis of their detention which he notes is contrary to Section 27 and 28 of the Immigration Act.  

Norman Rodriguez, Attorney: “The feeling is that they are being targeted. In one case, in two cases, I was instructed that the port commander came personally to tell these people that give me your personal items. I don’t understand why the port commander has to take over, if that is the case right,  from the immigration officer who is supposed to do the interview. The interview is incomplete. You can’t ask one question and then deny the person on that, satisfy yourself that he will not be charged on public funds. So it has reached a stage where a number of them have decided that we are going to ask the court to review the decisions of these officers or the director of immigration and decide if it was fairly done. Judicial review is what they’re seeking.”

Reporter: Okay. So it’s not that they will be seeking compensation for… 

Norman Rodriguez, Attorney: “That will always be a part of it. When you travel from your country and you come with all that is required for you to be allowed to enter a country and they don’t allow you and the court decides that the decision was wrongfully made, you will want compensation. So that is a part of the remedy that they will be seeking. It has gotten a little worse because the immigration officers have been calling me to tell me I must provide lodging for them and I must find food for them every day. But I have said to them, you are the one who have them detained. So you are responsible to feed them and to put them in a place where they are comfortable. They’ve threatened to take them to the police station but the court has already said certain things to the immigration department because these people are not criminals. They have not broken any criminal laws of Belize. They simply came in and were refused entry.”

Earlier this afternoon, Love News was informed that the Jamaican Embassy in Mexico has been apprised of the situation and a letter is forthcoming on the matter.  The matter of Jamaicans entering the country has been an ongoing issue due to the country taking caution on those nationals who are using Belize as a transit point to head to the United States.  Back in March 2023, Cabinet issued a statement saying that certain requirements would be put in place for Jamaicans to be granted entry, including proof of a return ticket and paid hotel reservations.  A few weeks later, however, the then Minister of Immigration, Eamon Courtenay, had clarified the Cabinet statement, saying that the decision was not final as there were meetings pending with other officials.  For context, here is that interview done on April 19, 2023.

Eamon Courtenay, Former Foreign Affairs Minister of Belize: “The government is not backpedaling. The Cabinet release was a little bit misleading. Unfortunately, we moved immediately after that to clarify the position. The Cabinet took two decisions. One was that we would immediately impose a visa restriction on Haitians. And secondly, the Ministry of Immigration would consult with the Ministry of Tourism to see whether we can put any restrictions on Jamaicans. And one example was given, for example, the non refundable hotel reservation that you had paid. And that got conflated as if we had immediately put in place both things. We did not put in place, and there is no restriction at the moment with respect to Jamaicans. We have to have the meeting with tourism and, in fact, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Defense because we believe that in relation to a number of countries the flow of persons coming through Belize needs to be analyzed carefully and assessed. And so we will do that. I have been in touch with the Foreign Minister of Jamaica repeatedly and assured her that we do not yet have in place any measure and if any measure is going to be put in place we would consult with them first so that they would be aware of that decision, but no restriction is in place with respect to Jamaicans.”

Our newsroom reached out to the Debra Estrada Baptist for an interview on the current situation surrounding the Jamaicans, but she declined.  She did note that a press release would be sent out but up to news time tonight, no such release has been received.