Nadia Morgan
As you heard, the P.U.P. is asking the court to direct the Commissioner of Police to carry out a criminal investigation into the illegal issuance of a passport to a South Korean fugitive who never set foot in Belize. But tonight, we can report that there is another such writ of mandamus already before the Supreme Court. The application is not only unprecedented, but it is coming from a sitting magistrate against the Director of Immigration, Maria Marin and the Attorney General. For background information, Magistrate Nadia Morgan is originally from Jamaica and has been in Belize, living and working, since 2011. She applied to the Immigration Department for permanent residency in April 2013, and got the royal turnaround. According to an affidavit by Morgan, she called Marin a month after applying to inquire about its status only to be told to put her queries in writing. Now She did and followed up with another round of phone calls. This is when Morgan had to deal with two persons whose names have come up in the Penner fiasco. In late May 2013, she was told by counter supervisor in nationality section, Ady Pacheco, that she did not qualify so she followed up with a formal request to put the reason for the refusal in writing. Morgan says the Immigration Department did not respond. The magistrate says she was then told by Head of Nationality Section, Gordon Wade, that she does not qualify because persons under the Caribbean Single Market and Economy regime are barred from applying for permanent residency in compliance with an agreement between CARICOM countries. In her application to the Supreme Court, Morgan contends that there is no such provision in the CARICOM Treaty and that there is no written immigration policy or law that prevents her from becoming a permanent resident in Belize. In fact, the magistrate did her own research and received information from the CSME Unit in Barbados that there is no provision barring her from applying. On June twelfth, 2013, she followed up with a meeting with Immigration Minister Godwin Hulse, and interestingly she was informed that the position taken by the Belize immigration department is not the law; and that he would call her back. But despite her numerous calls to the Minister, she had no further response so in effort to resolve the issue, she faxed a letter on August twenty-sixth, but realized that the minister will not honor his promise. And so she is seeking judicial review from the Supreme Court. Magistrate Morgan’s application is supported by a twenty-eight paragraph affidavit, and four declarations that the immigration department is acting illegally, irrationally and unlawfully and an order of mandamus directing the department to process her application for permanent residency.