~ Father wants her to be released on humanitarian grounds ~
PHILIPSBURG--The undocumented mother of two young Dutch children, one of whom is a breastfeeding four-month-old, was detained and thrown in the lockup Wednesday pending repatriation for residing in St. Maarten illegally.
The other child is two years old. The 29-year-old Jamaican woman L.Y. tied the knot to Dutch national G.Y in 2006, but her husband has not had any success in obtaining residence papers for her.
The 32-year-old husband told The Daily Herald it was "unfair" for authorities to detain his wife, who is still breastfeeding, and throw her in jail when her only fault was not having residence papers.
Justice Minister Magali Jacoba has appealed to Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards to release the mother on humanitarian grounds. The status of this request could not be ascertained up to late Friday.
Richards, as Local Chief of Police, has responsibility for Immigration matters and is the one who decides on repatriation matters.
G.Y. said the situation had taken a toll on him. Since his wife was detained, his two young children have been going from one relative's home to the next to stay when he has to work. The father said it would be an injustice to repatriate the woman and separate her from her children and family. He is calling for her to be released on humanitarian grounds and has secured the services of an attorney to help him fight the case.
G.Y. said his wife had been repatriated in 2006 for residing in St. Maarten illegally. At the time, he said, he had a "concubine contract" with her, in the absence of a residence permit. Following her repatriation, G.Y. said, he travelled to Jamaica, married the woman and she returned to St. Maarten. According to the law on admittance and expulsion, persons who are repatriated are banned for three years from returning to St. Maarten.
But G.Y. contends that the situation has now changed, because his wife has since given birth to two children, both of whom are Dutch nationals.
G.Y. said he had made two failed attempts to obtain residence papers for her. She also applied for a temporary residence permit recently under the Brooks Tower Accord (BTA) under category two.
G.Y. said that after the 29-year-old woman was picked up last Wednesday in Philipsburg, he visited the Philipsburg police station and showed authorities her BTA application, their marriage certificate, which he said is registered in St. Maarten, and proof that she has two very young Dutch children.
"I was there at the station with my two children. They took the documents and never got back to me," the frustrated man said.
He was later told to purchase her ticket, as she would be repatriated. He hasn't yet done so and is hoping that through his attorney she can be released on humanitarian grounds. The man said he understood that his wife had violated the laws of admittance and expulsion, but said this period had passed.
"We passed this stage already and we are now legally married and she has two kids. Now my kids have to be bouncing from one place to the next," he said. "This is not fair. I work most times at night and with her in the lockups, I have no one to take care of the kids.
"I have to be taking them from friend to relatives and from her mother to my mother's house. Right now my two-year-old is at her mother's and the four-month-old is at her niece. [Today] the small one will go somewhere else and the older one with someone else."
