Refugees posing problems
for Trinidad, Guyana
Continued from Page 1
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Clarke hosting
Citizenship Workshop
Congresswoman Yvette
Clarke.
$1,500
SAVINGS
land mostly in the northwestern
border region of Barima-
Waini, where native Amerindian
villages have complained
about the increased pressure
on the system to cope with
larger than usual numbers
of mouths to feed, people to
police, and children to educate
in schools.
Junior Health Minister
Karen Cummings said the ministry
has so far set up five
health centers catering especially
to Venezuelans. Medical
teams treating them work for a
month on rotation.
As governments of the two
Caricom member nations try
to cope, the Venezuelan situation
was to be discussed at this
week’s meeting of Caribbean
leaders in St. Kitts. Caricom
has offered itself as a good
offices peace broker and has
softly indicated to the Trump
Administration that the region
would be wholly uncomfortable
with any organized military
action against Venezuela,
the Nicolas Maduro regime in
particular, given the memories
and the negative effects of the
US invasion of tiny Grenada
back in 1983.
The T&T Guardian newspaper
reported that Security
Minister Brian Stuart Young
spent hours in the Moruga
and nearby areas on Tuesday,
scouting possible sites for a
fully future functioning military
base.
“We are not bury ing our
heads in the sand. We are not
pre tend ing we don’t have an
im mi grant flow. We are looking
at es tab lish ing an army
base in Moru ga so that there
will be more per ma nen cy. During
my tour, I stopped at Camp
La Ro maine to get a first-hand
un der stand ing of camp La
Ro maine, and I now in tend
to go and in crease the in frastruc
ture at Camp La Ro maine.
As time passed, the south ern
coast line and op er a tions in
the south have be come very
im por tant, and we have to provide
that sup port to the T&T
De fense Force,” Young said.
He said that through its
mission, the US will assist in
setting up the base, and will
work with local military teams
on a number of humanitarian
projects, including medical
outreaches, while collaborating
with residents about the
need for heightened military
awareness.
He also said that stepped-up
enforcement activities in that
southern area of the island
has led to a reduction in cross
border crime as “we have seen
a great re duc tion in the number
of boats and ves sels coming
in land or off shore. There
is al so a de crease in nar cotics,
arms and am mu ni tion. As we
tight en our bor ders, we are
pre vent ing stuff com ing from
the out side,” he said.
Venezuelan President Nicolas
Maduro.
Photo via Government of Venezuela
By Nelson A. King
Amid heightened
immigrant deportations
under the Trump
administration, Brooklyn
Congresswoman
Yvette D. Clarke is collaborating
with the New
York Legal Assistance
Group (NYLAG) to host
a Citizenship Workshop
to help Brooklynites
understand the process
of applying for citizenship.
The pol says that,
“given the continued
hostile nature of President
Trump’s immigration
agenda and his antiimmigrant
tone,” she
urges all eligible green
card holders to “apply
for citizenship now.”
The workshop will
take place on Saturday,
March 2, from 10 am to
2 pm, at Roosevelt Hall,
Brooklyn College.
“Donald Trump, who
often criticized President
Barack Obama for
his use of Executive
Orders, took executive
overreach to a new level
by declaring a national
emergency in order to
build his border wall,”
said Clarke, the daughter
of Jamaican immigrants.
“This was a power
grab by a president
who has gone outside
the bounds of not only
the law but of reality,”
added the representative
for the 9th Congressional
District in Brooklyn.
“Sixty-one percent
of Americans disapprove
of Donald Trump’s decision
to declare a national
emergency.
“Illegal border crossings
are at a near
20-year low,” she continued.
“This is just the
latest example of Donald
Trump’s attack on
immigrant families.”
Saturday’s event will
be the third installment
of the Clarke’s Citizenship
Workshop series
that began last Spring.