Trinidad and Tobago government explains deportations of Venezuelan migrants

After the United Nations System in Trinidad and Tobago said it is concerned after authorities announced they had facilitated the return to Venezuela of scores of Venezuelan nationals, including asylum seekers, who had been in detention, and similar expressions of concern by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the government has attempted to explain its actions.
In a press statement on Monday, the government said that, while it respects the rights of any person to seek asylum in Trinidad and Tobago and the decision of any foreign national to voluntarily return to their country of nationality, it also has a right to repatriate any foreign national who is found to be in breach of local laws of and will take the necessary steps to ensure repatriation.
The UNHCR said in an earlier statement that it deeply regreted the deportation this past weekend by Trinidad and Tobago of 82 Venezuelan nationals. The 82 include registered asylum-seekers and individuals who had declared an intention to apply for refugee status, making their return to Venezuela a breach of international refugee law.