Mae Toussaint Thomas, who serves as the Permanent Secretary of the Home Affairs Ministry, has returned to Guyana after being arrested recently for interrogation and had her mobile phone seized by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents at the Miami International Airport.
The US agency reportedly canceled Thomas’s visa, forcing her to take a different transit route back to Guyana. This is according to reports making the rounds in the media. She may have also been physically abused during a three-hour incarceration, according to reports, and she may have been handcuffed.
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It was confirmed that Thomas had her phone taken when she was traveling to China.
Although the Ministry of Home Affairs has not yet released a comment about the incident, a news source indicated that Thomas was not traveling for the government on official business.
US officials claim that the cops removed her phone during a check.
In the aftermath of the incident, the permanent secretary of Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Elisabeth Harper, sought an explanation but was told that nothing could be provided.
“We do not have any specific information to share,” US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission, Adrienne Galanek told Harper on Friday in response to an inquiry.
However, the American Embassy’s correspondence merely reproduced standard CBP reasons for conducting secondary checks on all incoming foreigners and American citizens.
“If CBP officers at a port of entry need more information to determine your admissibility into the US; you may be directed to an interview area known as secondary inspection,” the document said.
The American Embassy advised the Guyana government that CBP agents could ask for detailed information about the purpose for visiting the US, and their travel history, and they and their belongings could be searched thoroughly.
“Such inspections may include a search of all electronic information stored on your laptop, cell phone, and other electronic device.”
Meanwhile, in an interview with Demerara Waves Online News, a senior Guyana government official said the United States is not obligated to offer an explanation concerning the seizure of the phone.
“If they wish to, they don’t share. It is not something that they are legally or statutorily required to do. It is a courtesy,” the official said.
The official told the online news outlet that the Guyana government was not formally notified of the incident and so the government would await the return of the permanent secretary.
According to Demerara Waves Online News, 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, as she is the most senior civil servant responsible for police, immigration, prisons, the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit and the Registry of Births and Deaths
