Trinidad Says Illegal Jamaicans Putting A Strain On Its Resources

The Trinidad and Tobago gov­ern­ment says the influx of thou­sands of ille­gal Jamaicans into that coun­try is putting a strain on its resources, result­ing in the loss of more than a bil­lion dol­lars annually.

National Security Minister Gary Griffith made the dis­clo­sures this morn­ing in a state­ment defend­ing the actions of Immigration offi­cers in the twin island repub­lic who deport­ed 13 Jamaicans last month.
Griffiths says immi­gra­tion author­i­ties can­not act as a rub­ber stamp when it comes to allow­ing peo­ple into the country.
According to him, there are more than 19,000 Jamaicans in Trinidad and Tobago who entered at legit­i­mate ports of entry, but remains there ille­gal­ly and can­not be account­ed for. Describing the fig­ure as alarm­ing, Griffith point­ed out that those per­sons who are in Trinidad and Tobago ille­gal­ly are depen­dent on State resources such as edu­ca­tion and health care.
In addi­tion, he says while some may be employed, they are not sub­ject to tax­es, which results in a net rev­enue loss of over $1 bil­lion annu­al­ly. The Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) this week urged the Jamaican gov­ern­ment to imme­di­ate­ly address reports that Jamaican nation­als were being harassed when they vis­it Trinidad and Tobago. Read more here :http://​jamaica​-glean​er​.com/​l​a​t​e​s​t​/​a​r​t​i​c​l​e​.​p​h​p​?​i​d​=​5​5​949