The Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad & Tobago publicly deplores the kidnap of a national of Trinidad and Tobago by officials of the Immigration Investigations Department on Henry Street, Port of Spain on the afternoon of Friday 5th December. The woman in question is Paula Hadaway Kings, the wife of Nigerian migrant, Time Okeodo Kings, and mother of four children.
Mrs. Kings, who is pregnant, had gone to the Immigration office shortly after 4:00pm, to explain the absence of her husband from a scheduled interview that day and also to deliver a pre-action protocol letter pertaining to the status of her husband. She requested a re-scheduled appointment for Monday 8th December. After she had done so and sought to leave the building she was told that she could not leave. For over two hours they questioned her about the whereabouts of her husband and threatened to charge her with harbouring a fugitive. Even when her lawyer arrived and pointed out that their actions amounted to kidnapping, they refused to let her go. He invited her to leave with him and a female officer physically blocked her. They insisted that she return to an inner room and was only allowed to leave when her whole body was shaking and she was in a state of near collapse.
We find this treatment of a pregnant woman abhorrent. To add to the woman’s distress, sometime after 10 pm heavily armed police and immigration officers invaded her home where she was with her four children to search for her husband. When she stood in the doorway and protested their entry with the “big guns” out of concern for the small children she was pushed aside by a female officer.
Have some immigration officers now become so committed to the ill-treatment of undocumented migrants from the African continent that they are prepared to behave in this reprehensible and cruel manner even to their wives and families?
The Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad & Tobago is calling for a halt to this descent into the use of increasing terror against undocumented migrants from Africa and their families. Clearly those officers who have lost all sense of balance in their treatment of these migrants should at the very least be shifted from their current positions. In addition we are calling for a full investigation into the incident of kidnapping and for the authorities to take appropriate action against those responsible.
Khafra Kambon
Chairman
