After a cell phone belonging to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mae Toussaint Jr-Thomas, who was traveling via the United States en way to China, was seized, immigration officers in the United States failed to provide an explanation.
Following the incident, Elisabeth Harper, Permanent Secretary in Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, requested an explanation but was advised that none could be supplied.
“We do not have any specific information to share,” Adrienne Galanek, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy, informed Ms Harper on Friday in response to an inquiry published in the Stabroek News.
The American Embassy’s response, on the other hand, simply repeated routine CBP grounds for doing secondary checks on all entering foreigners and American citizens.
“If CBP officers at a port of entry require additional information to determine your admissibility into the United States, you may be directed to a secondary inspection interview area,” according to the document.
The American Embassy informed the Guyana government that CBP officials could ask comprehensive questions about the purpose of their visit, their travel history, and they and their possessions could be carefully searched.
“Such inspections may include a search of all electronic information stored on your laptop, cell phone, and other electronic device.”
Meanwhile, a top Guyana government official told Demerara Waves Online News that the US is not required to provide an explanation for the phone’s seizure.
“They don’t share if they don’t want to.” It is not something they are compelled to do by law or by statute. “It’s a courtesy,” the official explained.
According to the official, the Guyana government was not formally alerted of the incident, thus the government would wait for the Permanent Secretary’s return.
According to Demerara Waves Online News, as the most senior civil servant in charge of police, immigration, prisons, the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit, and the Registry of Births and Deaths, the Permanent Secretary’s mobile phone could potentially contain sensitive national security information as well as communication with top government and ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) officials.
