On November 2, local Suriname time, immigration and law enforcement authorities completed the first phase of a deportation operation targeting 63 Mennonite residents previously removed from the remote Mazonia region, according to official statements confirmed by prominent Surinamese attorney Derrick Veira to local outlet Starnieuws. Of the total group, 55 individuals holding valid Bolivian citizenship were flown out of the country on a chartered commercial flight on Saturday, while 8 Mennonites who hold Mexican nationality were temporarily barred from boarding the flight due to their lack of valid entry visas for Bolivia, the originally designated deportation destination. All 55 deported individuals have been issued a formal 1-year re-entry ban that prohibits them from returning to Suriname for the full 12-month period following their removal. Veira, who represents the entire group of displaced Mennonites, has publicly asserted that the Surinamese state violated core provisions of the national 1991 Aliens Act during the execution of the deportation operation. He presented supporting documentation in the form of official passport entry and extension stamps, proving that his clients had repeatedly received formal, legally approved extensions of their temporary residency status during their prior years of residence in Suriname, and argued that these verified records should have been given full consideration before any removal order was issued. The original government plan had scheduled the deportation of the 8 remaining Mexican Mennonites for the day following the first charter flight, but the group remains in state custody at the Kraka detention facility in Para District as of press time, pending resolution of their travel documentation requirements. A previously scheduled summary judgment hearing filed by the Mennonites against the Surinamese state is set to proceed imminently, with Veira noting he will amend the original legal petition to reflect the fact that the majority of his clients have already been forcibly removed from the country. He emphasized that the government was explicitly prohibited from carrying out any deportations under the 1991 Aliens Act while a formal petition for residency status review submitted to the Office of the President remained unresolved, adding that the presidential cabinet had already issued an official written confirmation of receipt for that pending review request long before the deportation operation was launched. Veira also criticized the Surinamese authorities for failing to provide him with any advance notice of the scheduled deportation, noting that the operation was carried out even as the second summary case filed directly by the Mennonites to challenge the legality of their removal was still awaiting a court hearing. The 63 Mennonites were initially removed from the Mazonia region in a joint operation conducted by local police with tactical support from the Surinamese National Army, before being transferred to the temporary detention site in Kraka. A prior separate summary judgment case filed by Suriname Green Energy Agriculture NV, the private firm overseeing the large-scale agricultural development project in the Mazonia area, was dismissed by Cantonal Judge Deborah Haakmat-Sniphout last Thursday, with the court ruling that it would not issue any injunction barring the Surinamese state from enforcing existing national aliens legislation.