Resident High Court Judge, Honourable Justice Patrick Thompson, on March 6th 2023, discharged the injunction granted on February 25th 2023, to prevent the repatriation of the Haitian Nationals who entered St. Kitts and Nevis from Dominica by boat on February 3rd, 2023.

According to a release from the Federal Government, “the Ministry of National Security has undertaken to process the asylum requests tendered by local attorney-at-law, Mr. Craig Tuckett.” The fourteen Haitian nationals, who Mr. Tuckett claims to represent, two of whom are minors, are currently being detained pursuant to provisions of the Immigration Act, at a significant cost to the State.

The Ministry of National Security is currently making swift arrangements for the asylum requests to be heard and determined. Based on circumstances surrounding the incident, police officers and the St. Kitts and Nevis Customs and Excise Department responded to a report at about 6 p.m. on February 3rd of a strange boat making its way to the shore at Gallows Bay, Nevis.

A press release from the authorities stated that two males came out of the boat and were walking towards Bath Village. They were later found in Bath Village and were stopped and questioned.

Officers accompanied them back to their main vessel where they found twelve (12) nationals of Haiti – ten (10) adults and two (2) juveniles – onboard. The two males were charged with the offences of Illegal Entry at a Port that is not a Formal Port of Entry and Disembarking Without the Consent of an Immigration Officer.