Everlasting Secretary within the Ministry of Dwelling Affairs in Guyana Mae Touissant Jnr. Thomas has confirmed that her United States visa has been revoked.
Breaking her silence on the controversy surrounding the confiscation of her government-issued telephone by US officers at Miami Worldwide Airport on April 8, she mentioned in a press release on Wednesday that she discovered her visa was revoked two days after that incident.
Nevertheless, she disputed some media stories about her interplay with the US Immigration officers, saying that “most of what has been reported is faulty.
“I want to make clear that I used to be referred for a ‘routine secondary test’. There was a misunderstanding over my official cellular phone with out me with the ability to advise my officers. I suggested that the cellular phone be despatched to the Minister of Dwelling Affairs, Honourable Robeson Benn in Guyana,” Thomas mentioned.
Thereafter, she mentioned, she was allowed to both enter the US, or proceed on her journey to China the place she was going for coaching as a part of a delegation from the ruling Individuals’s Progressive Social gathering Civic, and she or he selected the latter.
“Subsequently, throughout my return journey, I used to be suggested that my US visa was revoked on the tenth April 2023 and that I must make different preparations to return to Guyana,” the everlasting secretary added.
“I stay open to partaking with US authorities on any attainable journey preparations to the USA in the longer term.”
Her assertion got here hours after President Irfaan Ali declared there was no controversy concerning the incident.
“It’s a part of how they execute their job, individuals are requested to go for secondary [searches]. I’m instructed… there was no motive, it was a traditional routine process,” he instructed reporters.
“I used to be studying many circumstances and there are totally different guidelines that each nation applies to individuals who journey. We now have no difficulties.”
He mentioned Minister of Dwelling Affairs Robeson Benn and the Minister of Overseas Affairs and Worldwide Cooperation Hugh Todd are to have interaction US authorities on the main points of a report submitted by Thomas.
In a short assertion on Wednesday, Benn reiterated that Thomas stays in her place, noting that the appointment of everlasting secretaries was solely on the discretion of President Ali.
He issued that clarification to finish what he mentioned was “reckless hypothesis in sure sections of the media.”
CMC/