P.M. rescinds minister’s illegal deportation order

Heavy criticism continues to rain down on Immigration Minister Max Samuels in the wake of his apparently illegal expulsion of five banana workers, two of whom were naturalised Belizean citizens. Those orders were subsequently rescinded on order of Prime Minister Said Musa, but not before four of the men had already been sent on a boat to Honduras. The expulsion of the men was allegedly instigated by owners of Mayan King banana farm after the men, who were fired from their work, remained active in attempting to unionise the company’s labour force. News 5 tried to contact Samuels to find out how it is he could order police to expel citizens of Belize from their own country when such an act is clearly unconstitutional. We were told that Samuels, a former commissioner of police, was tied up in meetings and he failed to return our calls. We did speak to Director of Immigration Paulino Castellanos, who confirmed that a national of Belize cannot be expelled; and that if a naturalised citizen is to be stripped of his citizenship and nationality certificate cancelled, it must be proceeded by a full judicial hearing with all the charges laid out before him. Castellanos said this process had not taken place and as far as he knew, the men were expelled with their nationality certificates intact. This is not the first time the constitution has been trashed by a wayward Minister of Immigration. Several years ago then Minister of Immigration Jorge Espat ordered police to similarly expel a U.S. doctor who had become a Belizean citizen. Despite his protests and production of his valid Belize passport, the physician was manhandled into a departing plane and jailed upon arrival in the United States where he had been sought by authorities on charges related to a domestic dispute. Rather than use the proper extradition process as provided by Belizean law, it was easier for the U.S. Embassy to ask the minister for an illegal favour. It appears that in the most recent case the same spurious process has been employed by an equally powerful banana grower.