Government Agencies Collaborate to Combat Illegal Migration and Human Trafficking

The collaboration between and among governmental agencies are paying off as it relates to illegal migration and human trafficking.  The declaration comes on the heels of the launch of geospatial technology to map hotspot areas for human trafficking in Belmopan.  Minister of Home Kareem Musa, noted today, that while the project does not include Belize City, the municipality has seen a reduction in human trafficking victims. Musa explained that there’s much to be done to combat the trafficking of persons, including establishing a migrant holding center. 

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs: “We certainly have to look at some sort of a detention center for these migrants because we currently do not have one and that is a serious concern. But again, it’s joint operations carried out by both the police department and immigration that lead to these arrests of the migrants passing through the country. We have over the years seen a decrease in the number of these establishments that are engaged in human trafficking and I would want to attribute that to very effective police work as well as the immigration officers who are very on top of the ball and I believe that is what led to Belize being elevated on the tier list to a tier two. I think that was last year or the year before and so again I would want to attribute that to effective police work.”