Airport harassment
Published:Friday | January 7, 2011 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
I am not sure why, in this day and age when Jamaica is suffering financially, immigration officials at the Sangster International Airport insist on harassing visitors.
My niece, who is the vice-president of marketing of Brown Estate Vineyards in Napa Valley, arrived at the airport along with her parents, who are doctors, one of whom is a native Jamaican, and her two teenage children, to spend the Christmas holidays. They had not visited the island for 20 years but, at my request, came.
The immigration officer asked for my phone number, which my niece could not recall. So he detained her until her parents returned to see what the problem was. At the same time, I called my brother's cellphone to find out why they had not cleared Customs. While he was trying to explain to me the reason for the delay, the immigration officer threatened to prevent them from entering the island because my brother was talking on the telephone in his presence.
What kind of nonsense is this? And what can be used to justify this kind of behaviour?
Are these the kind of people we want to insult and harass, destroying the little bit of goodwill for Jamaica?
K. BROWNE
Mandeville
Manchester