Immigration racket going on for decades Mr Young

People are saying that National Security Minister Stuart Young is talking a lot of crap when he called on some Venezuelan nationals to bring evidence that certain immigration officers are taking bribes from Venezuelan migrants to gain lawful entry into Trinidad and Tobago.

National Security Minister STUART YOUNG

Young will know that the Venezuelans who are fleeing their homeland because of the political and humanitarian crisis have little money and it is their contacts in Trinidad who are paying the alleged bribes.

There are some businessmen and those involved in the trafficking trade who would protect the crooked officers who are helping them to bring the young South American girls illegally. People are saying that Young was probably wearing short pants when there was a Chinese immigration racket to give some of them residential status after they arrived here from China. That is why today the country is flooded with Chinese nationals who have set up businesses in nearly every corner around the country. Certain Immigration officers became multi-millionaires from the Chinese immigration racket.

Young may not remember a Chief Immigration Officer named Joseph Bodkin, who allegedly committed suicide some decades ago when there was talk that the police were going to press charges against him in connection with a Chinese immigration racket. He was alleged to have been collecting bribes to grant Chinese nationals residential status. One of the charges was reportedly misbehavior in public office.

It was alleged that he had approached some top Lodge members at a posh hotel in Port of Spain to get the charges dropped and when he was turned down, it was reported the next day he crashed his car on one of the big pillars of the flyover near the Beetham. Bodkin was a member of the Lodge. At the time Russell Huggins was Minister of National Security.