“What we have is persons alleging that it’s 16 children and this one is with or without a parent. I’ve seen that report. I asked in court ‘tell me who these individuals are’, I could not be told,” 

This was the sentiment shared by National Security Minister, Stuart Young, in an emergency press conference called on Tuesday afternoon, to clear the air on what government sees as a misrepresentation of the facts involving a group of Venezuelan nationals, mainly children, who were repatriated on Sunday.

Minister Young insists the children were not deported.

“There are instances where persons are brought in, you may then take their information and then they are returned back. That may not include deportation. I’m not sure what happened in that instance so I don’t want to speculate,” he said, adding: “My understanding of what happened there is that they were re-escorted across the borders.”

In a emergency sitting on Sunday night High Court Judge Avason Quilan-Williams ordered the group be returned to Trinidad given a legal matter seeking permission for the group to stay was before the court. 

The nationals were unable to be returned however, as they had already arrived in Venezuelan territory at the time of the order. 

Minister Young insists there was no rejection of the court’s rule.

“The persons were returned before the matter was heard in court. The persons were returned to Venezuela before any court order was made. So, there is no longer any jurisdiction, there is no breach, there is no misinforming the court or anything like that,” he said.