The mi­grant sit­u­a­tion in this coun­try has long teetered on the edge of cri­sis. For years, traf­fick­ers have prowled T&T’s porous coast­lines, ex­ploit­ing des­per­ate in­di­vid­u­als who en­dure per­ilous voy­ages on­ly to find them­selves trapped in bu­reau­crat­ic lim­bo up­on ar­rival.

The Venezue­lan mi­grant cri­sis has been sig­nif­i­cant­ly af­fect­ing this na­tion since at least 2015, and the sit­u­a­tion has on­ly in­ten­si­fied in re­cent years.

The chal­lenges faced by mi­grants are im­me­di­ate and com­plex. Le­gal sta­tus, em­ploy­ment, ac­cess to health­care, and ed­u­ca­tion re­main un­re­solved for many. Yet, the coun­try’s re­sponse has been re­ac­tive, piece­meal, and po­lit­i­cal­ly ex­pe­di­ent—far from struc­tured, hu­mane, or sus­tain­able. This ap­proach is not on­ly fail­ing mi­grants but al­so un­der­min­ing so­cial co­he­sion and pub­lic trust. A trans­par­ent, fair, and co­he­sive mi­grant pol­i­cy is long over­due.

Mi­grants live un­seen, in the shad­ows, vul­ner­a­ble to ex­ploita­tion. Many con­tribute to the in­for­mal econ­o­my but re­main un­able to in­te­grate ful­ly. This breeds in­sta­bil­i­ty, stig­ma­ti­sa­tion, and dis­trust, cre­at­ing a so­ci­ety where fear can eas­i­ly turn in­to xeno­pho­bia. In the ab­sence of clear pol­i­cy or re­li­able da­ta, pub­lic anx­i­ety in­ten­si­fies, and di­a­logue of­ten de­volves in­to scape­goat­ing. The con­se­quences are both hu­man­i­tar­i­an and po­lit­i­cal: ig­nored or mar­gin­alised pop­u­la­tions, frus­trat­ed com­mu­ni­ties, and re­peat­ed crises.

This week, Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar at­tempt­ed a more mea­sured ap­proach, de­clar­ing that there will be no mass de­por­ta­tions of mi­grants. This marks a de­par­ture from her rhetoric last No­vem­ber, when, as Op­po­si­tion Leader, she re­spond­ed to the bru­tal mur­der of her con­stituent Win­ston Thomas by blam­ing “il­le­gal Venezue­lan mi­grants” for a per­ceived rise in vi­o­lent crime.

At that time, she warned that her in­com­ing gov­ern­ment would take ag­gres­sive ac­tion, de­port­ing “every one of them to their home­land by any means nec­es­sary” un­less mi­grants com­plied with the law. She framed the choice stark­ly: Venezue­lan mi­grants had to choose “ei­ther peace­ful, law-abid­ing habi­ta­tion in our coun­try or de­por­ta­tion. There is no mid­dle ground.”

Her stance has evolved sig­nif­i­cant­ly since she as­sumed of­fice. The Prime Min­is­ter’s an­nounce­ment of a new mi­grant plan, in­clud­ing a re­ac­ti­vat­ed and more ro­bust reg­is­tra­tion pro­gramme, is wel­come news for the Venezue­lan mi­grant com­mu­ni­ty. She clar­i­fied that while mi­grants who break the law will still face de­por­ta­tion, en­force­ment will be se­lec­tive, not in­dis­crim­i­nate.

These are promis­ing steps, but the ab­sence of specifics leaves crit­i­cal ques­tions unan­swered: What is the time­line for im­ple­men­ta­tion? Will reg­u­lar­i­sa­tion in­clude work per­mits? How will in­te­gra­tion in­to so­ci­ety be han­dled? With­out clar­i­ty, un­cer­tain­ty will con­tin­ue to fu­el both pub­lic anx­i­ety and mi­grant vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty.

Venezue­lan mi­gra­tion con­tin­ues in waves, and T&T’s coast­line is no longer just a nau­ti­cal fron­tier—it is where jus­tice, hu­man­i­tar­i­an­ism, and na­tion­al in­ter­est con­verge. This coun­try ur­gent­ly needs a mul­ti-faceted mi­grant pol­i­cy: one that out­lines le­gal path­ways, vet­ting mech­a­nisms, fair asy­lum and refugee pro­ce­dures, and reg­u­lar­i­sa­tion for law-abid­ing mi­grants, grant­i­ng them ac­cess to work, ed­u­ca­tion, and health­care.

The pol­i­cy must al­so strength­en en­force­ment against traf­fick­ers and crim­i­nals, while en­sur­ing trans­paren­cy and con­sis­ten­cy in com­mu­ni­ca­tions. Clear in­for­ma­tion com­bats ru­mours, builds so­cial co­he­sion, and fos­ters trust be­tween com­mu­ni­ties. With­out a ro­bust, hu­mane, and strate­gic frame­work, the mi­grant cri­sis will con­tin­ue.

A mi­grant pol­i­cy found­ed on cau­tion alone will nev­er match one shaped by fore­sight. T&T must ad­dress this is­sue with leg­is­la­tion, ac­tion­able plans, trans­paren­cy, and moral courage.

The time for de­lay is over.