News

GRAND CAYMAN (GIS) - Six weeks after Government closed the Immigration Detention Centre the facility has reopened to accommodate new arrivals.

Currently two men, who arrived in East End in early June from Cuba, are housed at the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC). Another 21 are in approved accommodations, including 14 temporarily housed at Gun Bay Civic Centre.

The move to house some migrants outside IDC was in keeping with international guidelines to provide alternatives to the detention of migrants wherever possible.

All of the migrants, including those housed at the Gun Bay Civic Centre have been granted admission to the Cayman Islands.

Their terms of release require them to:

• Abide by all the laws of the Cayman Islands,
• Observe curfew hours between 9pm and 6am daily, although they are otherwise free to move about the country during the day, (They can request special permission to waive curfew. This has been granted in the past for special occasions such as New Year’s Eve, etc.)
• Refrain from tampering or removal of the electronic monitoring device, and
• Refrain from employment.

Migrants who do not abide by these conditions, may be returned to the IDC for a reasonable period of time or until the individual is repatriated or granted asylum as the case may be.

Immigration officials note that Gun Bay Civic Center is a publicly-owned property. Its facilities including: space for beds, bathrooms, as well as areas for cooking and exercise allow the Government to temporarily provide for the basic needs of the migrants without having them remain in a detention setting.

Immigration officials say alternative facilities may be used if and when they become available. They are also considering other public buildings should the public require use of the civic centre due to an oncoming storm or hurricane.

The IDC was closed briefly in 2018 but reopened in the fall of last year following the arrival of new migrants.

During the 2018 budget year IDC operating costs reached more than $1.6 million. By the end of May 2019 the year-to-date figure was already in excess of $1.4 million.

(GIS)