JVD resident concerned about alleged absence of immigration officers
According to Callwood, this is not the first time that immigration officers have failed to show at the port of entry and exit at Jost Van Dyke and that matter needs to be seriously investigated.
He alleged that last week Saturday, March 23, 2013 a similar issue occurred. In the case of yesterday, March 28, 2013, he allegedly witnessed over twenty tourists entering the island through a very frustratingly slow process and that the officer, who usually mans the gate, had to take charge.
"Last week there was over a hundred tourists that came in on one boat and again the customs officer couldn't make it so I guess she had to just let them go through freely after doing her part. This is a serious matter," said Callwood.
He explained further that there is an Immigration Officer who resides on the island but when it’s that person's day off relief would come from Tortola. "That I can tell you for sure nobody show last week nor this week and the immigration department really need to look into this.”
Contacted at approximately 4:20 P.M. on March 28, 2013 Chief Immigrations Officer Mr Dennis Jennings said he was unaware of the alleged no-show of immigration officers on Thursday. "As far as I know all the ports are covered, no one reported to me sick or anything. We assign officers to all the ports every day. I don't know otherwise. You are saying this to me now but I am not aware of such," said Mr Jennings.
Mr Callwood alleged that on weekends, when the JVD Immigration Officer is off duty, relief is usually about one hour late in arriving at JVD since it would come on the ferry from West End, which leaves at 9 A.M. The ferry bound for the US Virgin Islands leaves JVD at 9 A.M. "So you see what's happening there," said Callwood.
Compounding that issue, the concerned man explained that the building which houses the Immigration and Customs is in an atrocious state. "They make so much money from this building and yet none of that money goes back into it." He explained that the entire building needs repairing. The roof, he said, is bad and rusted, the paint on the walls are flaking, the rails are “terrible” and the windows area is “not good”.
As a concerned resident, Mr Callwood is appealing to the relevant authorities to seriously investigate those issues with the intention of having them addressed as matters of urgency.
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26 Responses to “JVD resident concerned about alleged absence of immigration officers”
Seems as if you are happy with the current situation thus you don't care about solution. all you care about is defending your party. Please stop the anti-social behavior and speak of solution that will be in the best interest of the country ---sorry the tag VIP/NDP is not a solution.
Government is crawling all over themselves to have Mickey Mouse greet people when they arrive on Tortola, so the next time this happens, hang a set of Mickey Mouse ears on the building and that can be our signal that nobody is home and it is safe to enter illegally!
Imagine that, NOBODY at immigration. And we wonder how people get into our little slice of heaven illegally.
ng it on the news media
BOY GREG DONOT STUDY THEM YOU HAD ARIGHT DOING WHAT YOU DID,LET THEM GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER ALL THE HATERS TALKING $H!TE BECAUSE YOU MARRIED A JAM.... WOMAN DEM TO DUTY MINDED,