THE government is taking steps to ensure that Jamaica’s borders are adequately protected by upgrading the level of immigration checks at all points of entry, with work already started at the country’s two major airports.

“Although a recent media report suggests that a lot of the measures being introduced are (only) being done at the Sangster International Airport, this is not so. This initiative has nothing to do with the new management at that airport. It is being done at both airports, under the aegis of the government of Jamaica,” explained Carol Charlton, senior director at the Ministry of National Security’s Immigration, Citizenship and Passport Division.

Charlton told JIS News that the management of both the Norman Manley and Sangster International airports were stakeholders in the initiative being undertaken by the government, as part of a larger effort to improve border security.

In 2002, an assessment was carried out by the United States State Department to determine the effectiveness of Jamaica’s border control mechanisms. Following the assessment, the State Department made a number of recommendations, which the government, through the Ministry of National Security, is gradually seeking to implement.

One of the major recommendations coming out of the report was the implementation of a technology infrastructure, which would allow all transit into and out of Jamaica to be captured, monitored and analysed for the purposes of local and international law enforcement; management of legal migration; control of irregular and illegal migrate; and facilitation of tourism and other economic development.

As a result, an electronic border inspection system was devised, as part of a comprehensive programme, to process incoming and outgoing passengers.

“What has emerged is a capacity-building in migration management project. One aspect of it is the injection of this technology, the other will deal with things like legislation, policies, procedures, training and other development and structural issues,” Charlton explained.

The Ministry of National Security is working with the International organisation for Migration (IOM) and 3M/AiT on the project, which is expected to enhance Jamaica’s capacity to efficiently manage migration flows, in order to meet international standards.

The IOM is funding the project and supervising its implementation at an estimated cost of $2.2 million, while 3M/AiT, a Canadian-based American company, is providing the technology for the computerisation of the immigration system. “As a consequence of this technology input, what we have done is introduce some changes in the infrastructure at both airports. So we have, for example, introduced some new checkpoints for exit controls,” Charlton told JIS News.

The infrastructure changes at the airports will see the reconfiguration of the existing office space and the processing areas to facilitate the installation of additional workstations. While the checkpoints are not yet in use, because the system has not been fully implemented, the ministry has been setting up the equipment and training staff, with a view to starting shortly, said Charlton.