In 2024 DPP & AG gearing up to help Illegal Migration 

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, January 20, 2024 – The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions  and the Attorney General’s Chambers are both well aware of the challenges faced by the Turks and Caicos with illegal immigration, and say they’re gearing up to do their part in protecting the TCI.

Representatives of both spoke during the Legal Year Opening ceremony on January 4.

Angela Brooks, Acting DPP, addressed the importance of the matter.

“The seriousness with which the ODPP places attention to Immigration and Customs offenses as national security matters has been elevated to an area of high importance.  This has resulted in a specialized unit being reactivated to address urgent requests for directions in relation to unprecedented increases in illegal vessels and migration,” she said.

Brooks also described a recent case win for the ODPP.

“The ODPP has since brought its first matter of aggravated, assisting unlawful entry under the amended legislation. This matter involved 159 illegal Haitian nationals, who were brought into the TCI on a vessel that was fitted for 30 persons.  The defendant was sentenced to 8 years in prison.”

The Attorney General’s Chambers indicated that a chunk of their work for 2024 would be focused on immigration legislation.  The push from the judicial arm of government is in tandem with the push from the legislative arm to secure national security support from the UK and increase border protection locally.

Both are driven by the record numbers of irregular migrants from Haiti that arrived in the country in 2023 as they tried to flee the  humanitarian crises in their home country.  At least 3,595 have been intercepted before reaching the islands shores while hundreds of others are confirmed to have escaped and the number could be higher according to residents who report interceptions that have gone unconfirmed by Police.

With gangs ruling major cities, politicians divided on new elections, international military intervention stalled and hunger and malnutrition surging in the French-speaking nation, attempts to escape into the surrounding areas are expected to remain high.