1 week ago
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The situation at Belize’s western border has now stabilized following last week’s sickout, which saw a steady increase in the number of immigration officers calling in ill over a six-day period. The issue began on Monday, March 31, with eight officers reporting sick. By Tuesday, that number rose to ten, and by Wednesday, April one, a total of twelve officers had called in, raising concerns at one of the country’s busiest entry points. Despite the escalation, government officials maintained at the time that there was no clear indication of any organized industrial action, noting that all officers had submitted medical certificates. Today, however, Director of Immigration Lawrence Thompson says the situation has since been resolved, with all affected officers having recovered and returned to duty following the Easter holiday.
Lawrence Thompson, BMIS Director: “Presently, we have the officers who were on sick are now reported to work and the border is open still, just as it has been from last week, even during that slight disruption. So there was no impact whatsoever as to the delays or anything of that sort because of this. We managed that well. When this incident had arisen, we quickly mobilized other officers from different ports to ensure that we do not have any disruption or to mitigate the level of disruption that would have been caused based on those officers being sick. And so with that operationalization of that plan that we had for the Western border, we managed to ensure that the border remain active and open and in a position where this increase in travel was not disrupted. And so travelers passing through a port were able to be processed without undue delays and the board of security concerns were also addressed.”
During the peak Easter travel period, the reduced staffing placed additional pressure on those on duty. But authorities say contingency measures were put in place to ensure that operations continued without disruption, including the reassignment of personnel from other areas.
Thompson says that despite the temporary shortage, border services remained efficient and travelers were processed smoothly throughout the holiday weekend. While the immediate issue has been resolved, the Immigration Department is now looking closely at what transpired.
Thompson confirmed that an internal investigation has been launched to better understand the situation and to put measures in place to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.
Lawrence Thompson, BMIS Director: “What we are doing is we are conducting our investigation. We have assigned a senior member of the department to conduct an internal investigation to get to the bottom of what caused all this. And if it is, I think it was ventilated through the media last week that there was no grievance reported to myself or to my superior, the CEO, or even to the assistant directors that are also responsible for ports. Clearly this concerns us. There is, well, based on a preliminary investigation that was done, the other agencies were not sick that were at the border. And so the bug or any substance that maybe we have been in the air or whatever that may cause a sick out everybody at the border that can be ruled out. And the fact that we had these officers being sick definitely concerns us.”
Officials say the review will focus on strengthening operational resilience, particularly during high-traffic periods, to ensure continuity of service at all border points.
English (US) ·