Judge orders release
of five-year-old girl
~ Says Immigration should make policy public ~
PHILIPSBURG--The Judge in the Court of First Instance ruled on Monday that the five-year-old girl who was detained last Thursday because visa requirements had not been met should be released, as local authorities had not made their policy known in keeping with the laws of good governance and fairness.
Attorney Jairo Bloem represented the girl and argued that for years children under age 12 had been allowed to enter the island if they had letters from their guardians or parents.
Bloem had already been successful in getting the girl released from detention on Friday morning, through the intervention of the Judge, stopping the Immigration Department’s plan to repatriate her.
The girl’s father, who was detained Friday after voicing concerns to police, was released on Monday without charge following Bloem’s intervention. The father reportedly had been held because he had legal residence in French St. Martin and a work permit for Dutch St. Maarten.
The girl and another minor arrived at Princess Juliana International Airport on Thursday from the Dominican Republic and were intent on travelling to French St. Martin where their parents were waiting for them, when they were detained by Immigration.
A decision was made Thursday night to send the child and another detainee to an undisclosed location where she was not permitted to contact her family even though her mother resides on the island.
According to Bloem, the law states that a child under age 12 travelling with his or her parents is exempt from the visa restrictions that apply to the parents. However, when the child does not travel with the parent, the law says the visa requirements apply and the child also has to have original letters from both parents authorising his/her travel.
He said this law was primarily to guard against child abductions.
After hearing Bloem’s argument for the five-year-old girl’s release Friday morning, the judge granted the girl a temporary release and said he wanted to hear the Police/Immigration Department’s side of the story pertaining to the normal practice with minors travelling without their parents.
Chief Immigration Officer Police Commissioner Ademar Doran was heard and the government also brought French side Immigration officers to indicate that not only was it not a practice to allow a child to enter unaccompanied without meeting the visa requirements, but the fact that the child was intent on travelling to French St. Martin made it impossible to allow her entry as well, as the French Territory requires a visa regardless of the age of the person travelling.
Bloem said the judge had agreed with him that the reason given for the girl’s detention and repatriation was that she was a threat to security and public order, and only that, and not the question of whether the Immigration Department had allowed persons under her present condition to enter in the past, should be discussed.
The judge then decided that the attempt to add the issue of the child’s legal right to enter French St. Martin was not something on which he had authority to rule. He said that in the matter before him he found that there had been a practice in the past and that the government should have publicly announced that it was no longer allowing this practice before taking such drastic measures as arresting the girl.
Bloem had also provided a statement from the Consulate of the Dominican Republic in St. Maarten stating that in many cases in the past her office had issued letters certifying that the persons writing them were the parents of the children travelling, and requesting that if this practice was no longer allowed, the government provide information to the public so the Consulate would not have to answer questions as to whether this was still possible.
