THE Government of Barbados is saying one thing in public while doing the opposite in private. This is highlighted recently when a Guyanese born US citizen was held up at Grantley Adams Airport and she was given the “Guyana bench treatment”.

I am speaking about Ingrid David, a Guyanese by birth, arrived on the island with her American daughter to spend a three-week holiday with relatives.

Although she presented an American passport, the Bajan Immigration authorities detained her for almost two hours at the Grantley Adams Airport while allowing her daughter entry to the island without much fuss.

Although every nation has the right to enforce its immigration policies, it must do so equally across the board. Harassment at the airport against legitimate tourists, be they from Guyana or Jamaica, is bad for a country that depends on its tourist industry for survival.

Reports from Guyanese citizens living and working in Barbados, spoke about early morning round ups, imprisonment, confiscation of properties and eventual deportation from the Island. This is an insane and inhumane approach to immigration policy in a civil society. In an effort to blunt the criticisms against critics that a disproportionate of Guyanese are targeted for deportation, The Barbados Prime Minster gave a figure that only six Guyanese nationals were recently deported from Barbados since the new immigration reforms were announced on the Island. This contradicts the statement issued by Guyana Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett that some 53 Guyanese have been deported from the island nation of Barbados.

I urge my fellow Guyanese here in the US, Canada and Europe to highlight the immigration practices of the Barbados Government that is akin to racial profiling. If tourists are aware of such practices, I bet they will spend their tourist dollars elsewhere. Hitting Barbados where it hurts will force them to rethink their immigration policies towards their fellow West Indians.
IQBAL EMAMUDEEN
New Jersey, USA.