Migrants still on the run

(CNS): Five of the 23 Cuban migrants who escaped from the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) Thursday night, 7 August, remain at large, report Immigration Department officials. According to Acting Chief Immigration Officer Kerry Nixon, assisting the escaped migrants is an offence attracting penalties of up to $50,000 and imprisonment of up to seven years. Anyone who sees them shoud call 926-0433 or 244-2028, or contact the police by calling 911.

Immigration and police officers searched areas around Fairbanks Road with the assistance of the Cayman Helicopter. During the early hours of Friday morning, 17 migrants were apprehended and detained while another turned himself in at the IDC. Immigration officials have said that at least two of the migrants were previously repatriated and were among the group that demonstrated last year.  Nixon claims that these returning migrants are the ones who have been inciting trouble at the centre, though the nature of the truble has not been revealed.

“We are very disappointed with the aggressive and criminal behaviour of the migrants, and we call on those who are on the run to return to the centre,” she said. “These migrants have in essence landed in the Cayman Islands illegally and we are asking persons not to offer them any help, but to report all sightings to the police or immigration,” Nixon said.