In response to calls for government to fast-track its exemption process for Trinidad and Tobago nationals to be allowed home, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley says while he empathizes with the plight of those abroad, emotion could not be “the yardstick by which we respond to the (COVID-19) virus”.

“The policy cannot be who gets on television first and who cries on television. Because then if that is how it is, then you will not be able to have an effective system where these said persons can enter,” Dr. Rowley said while speaking at a press conference on Monday. 

The Prime Minister’s statement was made on the same day a daily newspaper prominently featured an elderly woman, currently in Miami, on its front paper, as she made a tearful plea to be allowed back home.

Of the 330,000 T&T nationals currently outside of the country, Dr. Rowley said roughly 275,000 of these persons were living and working in the United States- the country worst hit by the virus with nearly than 3.4 million cases to date. In addition, he said there were some 8,000-10,000 nationals who he said only happened to be “on the wrong side of the fence” when borders closed on March 23rd.

To date, the Ministry of National Security has allowed 4,515 exemptions, from countries including Barbados, Cuba, Guyana, Jamaica, St Martin, Suriname, and Venezuela.

He said the State will continue to facilitate the return of nationals, processing the situation by a case-by-case basis. This as he pointed out he knows personally, the challenge of having a loved one outside of the border.

“In my own case, my daughter is in New York wanted to come home. Her sister is having a baby and she wanted to come home- these are family matters. She has not been allowed to come in, not even encouraged to apply because I know how that would have been played in this country,” the Prime Minister said.