Former Director of Immigration Calls

alt(Panama-Guide) - La Estrella -  The former director of the National Immigration Service, who served during the administration of former President Guillermo Endara (1989 - 1994), Antonio Domínguez, denounced the current administration of that entity for not following the procedures for foreigners to apply for permits or visas to enter Panama. Dominguez said he has sent a letter to the Security Minister, Jose Raul Mulino, in which he described the irregularities being committed against foreigners by the Immigration Department, but he has received no response. He also accuses the Director of Immigration, Maria C. Gonzalez, of ignoring at least 7 official requests from the Supreme Court, but she has not taken any action, nor have they done anything to Gonzalez, he said. The former director of Immigration reported that he has asked a trusted person who works in Immigration to make an analysis of the situation inside of the institution, and the results of that investigation are documented in a report on the famous "melting pot" fairs. Dominguez describes the project as a 'scam', which supposedly aims to legalize those foreigners who are in Panama, and who do not meet the parameters established in the Executive Order written for this purpose, because the fines being charged and collected are less that what was established, and furthermore, there is are no legal guarantees established for those foreigners who benefited from this process. "Immigration is not granting the foreigners any kind of rights or status after two years, and after having done all of these sacrifices, the foreigners are still illegal in the country and undocumented, those who supposedly paid to become legal."

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Original Source: Panama-Guide

Date Retrieved: November 30, 2010.