Scandal pushes immigration reforms

(newsroompanama.com) A bar code on Panama visas is one of the steps being considered by President Ricardo Martinelli as he plans to change the way the Immigration Department is operated following a scandal involving human trafficking .

" I think we should have an authority with a Board of Directors where businesses, civic clubs and different ethnic groups can be represented," .

A bar code to visas would make it it easier to track people entering the country he said.

A group of immigration officials are under investigation for smuggling Chinese citizens into the country/ They were told they were going to be transported to the United States, but ended up working in Panama as virtual slaves for Chinese-owned businesses.

Martinelli said that part of the problem is the low salaries earned by public employees, which encourages corruption . The alleged ringleader of the operation, Rolando Taboada, earned $2,000 a month as head of security for Immigration.

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Original Source: newsroompanama.com
Date Retrieved: October 2, 2010.