标签： Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander has publicly confirmed that the current national administration is moving forward with plans to introduce new legislation that would mandate every individual aged 16 and older, including both citizens and foreign visitors, to carry a valid form of government-issued photo identification at all times when in public spaces.

The confirmation follows the leak of a confidential Cabinet Minute dated April 2, 2026, which circulated widely across social media platforms one day prior. The document outlined the proposed legislative amendments and has since been verified as authentic by Alexander during an exclusive telephone interview with local media outlet the Express. Following the Cabinet’s initial review, the proposal has been referred to the Finance and General Purposes Committee for further scrutiny and budgetary assessment.

When pressed on whether failure to produce ID upon request from law enforcement officials would be classified as a criminal offense, Alexander noted that final details of the policy are still being finalized. He did, however, confirm that a grace period will be built into the framework to allow individuals to retrieve or present their documentation after a request, and expressed his personal support for financial fines or other administrative penalties for repeated non-compliance.

Framing the policy as a critical tool to address longstanding challenges facing the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, Alexander pointed to repeated difficulties officers face when serving arrest warrants. He shared a common scenario: police arrive at a location to arrest a suspect named John Brown, only for the individual to claim they are Harry James and have no connection to the warrant, with no easy way for officers to verify their identity on site. Beyond law enforcement, he added that mandatory ID will streamline legitimate business transactions and formal employment background checks, noting that similar requirements are already standard practice across most of the world. The policy, he argued, will also foster a stronger sense of national belonging among young people entering adulthood, and make it far easier for authorities to separate criminal actors from law-abiding residents.

To ensure broad access to national identification cards, Alexander explained that the government will coordinate closely with the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) and multiple government ministries. For teenagers aged 16 and older still enrolled in school, the EBC will deploy mobile registration teams directly to campus, allowing students to complete the process and receive their ID before graduating, eliminating barriers for young people who may struggle to travel to official registration offices.

The proposal has already drawn criticism from the opposition People’s National Movement (PNM), a reaction Alexander said he fully expected. He accused the PNM of a long-standing pattern of obstructing every government initiative designed to address the country’s ongoing crime crisis, calling their opposition hypocritical. “These same critics travel to other countries, follow local laws and readily present their passports or ID when requested by authorities, but here in Trinidad and Tobago, they seem content to allow lawlessness to continue and undermine the rule of law,” he said. “They are stuck in the 1970s, with their heads conveniently buried in the sand. The public has a right to ask why the PNM opposes every single policy this government introduces to make life harder for criminals.”

Alexander also criticized the previous PNM administration for lax identification protocols, saying the former government allowed individuals to register residency in the country without requiring valid proof of identity from their country of birth. He gave an example of one individual who successfully registered twice under two different names — Josh Hernandez and an alternate alias — due to gaps in the old system. He emphasized that mandatory public ID aligns with long-held international standards, pointing out that Trinidad and Tobago citizens are required to present complete, verified documentation and valid visas when traveling abroad, and that photo ID is already required to open basic bank accounts in the country.

When asked about a timeline for rolling out the new policy, Alexander said implementation will move forward as soon as the Prime Minister gives official approval. Beyond the ID mandate, he also shared updates on other core government public safety initiatives: 30 joint army-police security outposts are set to begin deployment across the country within the coming days, as part of ongoing efforts to clean up what he described as systemic mismanagement left by the previous PNM administration. He also confirmed that he has held talks with the Commissioner of Prisons about relocating the Port of Spain Prison out of the capital city, a long-term priority for the current administration to remove the correctional facility from the heart of the capital’s commercial and residential district. In additional policy news, Alexander added that the government will also introduce legislation to raise the legal age for alcohol and marijuana consumption, framing all of these new policies as interconnected measures to support young people and help them build healthy, law-abiding lives.

In a virtual Zoom press conference held this week, Dr. Linda Sobeh Ali, Palestinian Ambassador to the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and Trinidad and Tobago, has opened up about her dual perspective on shifting diplomatic dynamics in the Caribbean: growing alarm over Israel’s deepening engagement with Trinidad and Tobago, paired with unshakable confidence that the local government will uphold its longstanding support for Palestinian statehood.

Sobeh Ali’s comments came in direct response to press questions about recent high-level interactions between Israeli officials and Trinidad and Tobago’s government, including a formal courtesy call on Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Sean Sobers by Israeli representatives last month. When pressed on whether Palestine views the warming of ties between the two countries as a threat, the ambassador did not mince words, describing the situation in stark terms: “We are concerned, and I have the faith that the Trinidad and Tobago government knows and understands that it’s not a conflict, it’s an ongoing occupation, it’s ongoing genocide, it’s ongoing humiliation, it’s ongoing land grab, it’s ongoing annexation, it’s ongoing illegal settlement, it’s ongoing burning people alive.”

The ambassador emphasized that Palestine fully respects Trinidad and Tobago’s sovereign right to shape its own independent foreign policy, regardless of regional diplomatic shifts. That commitment to respect, however, has not stopped Palestinian authorities from closely tracking Israel’s deliberate push to expand its diplomatic footprint across the Caribbean region.

Sobeh Ali noted that Palestine has already built strong working relations with Trinidad and Tobago’s current administration. She made history as the first fully accredited Palestinian ambassador to present her credentials under the current government, after the previous Trinidad and Tobago administration formally recognized the State of Palestine in 2024. To date, she has held official meetings with President Christine Kangaloo, Minister Sobers, and multiple other cabinet ministers, and has continued active outreach to regional leaders during recent Caricom summits held in St. Lucia.

Even with these established diplomatic channels, Sobeh Ali confirmed that growing Israeli influence in the Caribbean remains a major source of concern. “Are we alarmed to see Israel in the Caribbean? Yes, we are,” she stated. She shared a personal anecdote to illustrate the discomfort the trend brings: a recent encounter with Hebrew-language signs marking “private property” immediately brought back traumatic memories of similar signs being posted on seized Palestinian land and homes back in her homeland.

In response to these latest diplomatic developments, the ambassador announced plans to travel to Trinidad and Tobago in the near future to hold in-person, face-to-face talks with top government officials. She reiterated that Palestine trusts the Trinidad and Tobago government will continue to uphold its commitments to international law, and does not expect the administration to take controversial steps such as opening an Israeli embassy in Jerusalem — a city Palestine universally recognizes as occupied territory.

Sobeh Ali used the platform of the press conference to renew global calls for expanded support for the Palestinian people, urging Caribbean governments across the region to keep pushing for unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza, enhanced protections for civilian populations, and a lasting negotiated two-state solution to the decades-long conflict. In a direct, emotional appeal, she called on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to continue championing the Palestinian cause, framing the request as a shared appeal across identities: “Madam Prime Minister, with all due respect, I come to you and I ask you as a mother, as a woman to woman, as a diplomat to diplomat, as a human to human, to continue to advocate for the liberation of Palestine, for the creation of two-state solution and for a just cause of international law for all the Palestinians.”

Former top Trinidad and Tobago law enforcement official Gary Griffith has publicly thrown his support behind a controversial new government policy that would mandate all individuals aged 16 and older to carry official state-issued identification when in public spaces. In an interview with local outlet the Express, Griffith argued that the regulatory change would strengthen police capabilities without creating unreasonable disruptions to everyday civilian life, even as he acknowledged the intense public backlash the plan has already drawn.

Griffith recognized that many critics have framed the proposed mandate as an overreach of state power, with opponents warning it could lay the groundwork for authoritarian policing practices and the expansion of a police state. But he pushed back against these claims, noting that comparable mandatory ID laws are already in place across a wide range of sovereign nations, where they have become a standard, accepted tool for practical, effective policing.

Contrary to widespread fears that the policy would lead to a surge in unnecessary arrests of ordinary citizens, Griffith emphasized that the core purpose of the rule is not to target innocent members of the public, but to provide law enforcement officers with a consistent, reliable mechanism to confirm people’s identities during routine and critical operations. This includes during criminal investigations, fixed roadblocks, and other emergency or law enforcement scenarios.

He outlined several key practical benefits that the mandate would deliver. With mandatory ID checks, officers can efficiently confirm the identities of potential witnesses to crimes, follow up on leads by locating persons of interest, and cross-reference individual details against active law enforcement databases to check for outstanding warrants or wanted status. The policy would also create a formal process to verify whether individuals are residing in Trinidad and Tobago with legal immigration status.

“Right now, police can check centralized databases to confirm definitively if a person is wanted by the law or has active warrants pending against them. That’s why this direction carries so much value for public safety,” Griffith explained.

Illegal immigration, a longstanding policy challenge for the Caribbean nation, is another key reason Griffith cites to support the proposal. Drawing on his own experience serving as the country’s national security minister, he shared that official data from his tenure showed more than 110,000 individuals who entered the country through legal ports of entry never officially departed, putting them in undocumented immigration status. Griffith added that this figure does not include the unknown number of people who entered the country through unregulated, illegal border crossings, meaning the full scope of the undocumented population remains unclear today.

“If that large undocumented population remains unaddressed, this mandatory ID policy gives law enforcement a clear way to distinguish between people who are in the country legally and those who are not, ensuring officers have a verifiable, factual way to confirm who they are interacting with, rather than relying on self-reported information,” he said.

Griffith also moved to directly address one of the most common public concerns surrounding the policy: the fear that ordinary civilians will be detained or arrested simply for forgetting to carry their identification on their person. He noted that based on current public details of the proposal, the policy does not include an automatic arrest or overnight detention for individuals without ID on hand.

Recognizing that forgetting ID at home is a common, innocent mistake, Griffith said individuals in that situation should be permitted to leave the scene and return at a later date to produce the required identification for verification. He also urged the public to avoid premature criticism of the plan, noting that the national Cabinet almost certainly conducted rigorous research and impact assessments before advancing the proposal.

“Before people rush to jump to conclusions about this policy, it’s important to recognize that the Cabinet has almost certainly completed detailed research to assess whether this measure will deliver real value to help law enforcement agencies carry out their public safety duties more effectively,” Griffith said.

Trinidad and Tobago’s government is moving forward with a plan to bring back court-ordered hard labour for convicted offenders, deploying incarcerated people to public space maintenance and clean-up initiatives across the country, Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander announced last week.

Alexander shared the details during a press interaction at a meeting for the National Programme for the Upkeep of Public Spaces, held at the St John’s Community Centre in Tunapuna. Standing alongside active participants in the national public upkeep programme, he confirmed that the policy would eventually place sentenced inmates into similar community-focused projects as a core component of their court-mandated sentences.

“We are going to reintroduce (a programme) where persons who have been charged, convicted by a court, and sentenced to hard labour, we are going to reintroduce those persons to come back out into the streets and help with the clean-up process,” Alexander told reporters. He argued that the current implementation of hard labour sentences within the national prison system fails to live up to the core intent of the sentencing.

He pointed out that today, offenders sentenced to hard labour often spend most of their time confined to cells, with access to personal devices and internet connectivity – conditions that do not align with the purpose of a tough, rehabilitative work sentence. “If you are convicted, 12 months or two years’ hard labour, whatever…what does hard labour in the jail do? A man just sitting in a cell. A man is smoking, on his phone, on the Internet and all these things. That is not hard labour. That is not hard work,” he said.

Beyond correcting how sentences are carried out, Alexander framed the new policy as a tool for early inmate rehabilitation and reintegration. Offenders who demonstrate strong work ethic can start rebuilding public trust before their release, he explained, allowing community members to see their commitment to change. “If someone is smart on the inside, he can use this process to start to reintegrate himself into the public. Let the public see (him and say), ‘listen, that fella is hard-working,’” he added.

The minister also noted that the policy model has already been tested and proven successful in other jurisdictions, and that the national prison system represents one of the country’s largest underutilized labor pools that the government is prepared to tap for public benefit. “We have one of the biggest labour forces at the nation’s prisons, and we are ready to utilise them,” he said.

While the Prison Officers’ Association of Trinidad and Tobago (POATT) has called the proposal a positive step in principle, association head Gerard Gordon emphasized that a number of critical safety and operational concerns must be addressed before the programme can be expanded to public projects outside prison walls.

Gordon noted that meaningful work has long been accepted as a core element of effective offender rehabilitation, helping incarcerated people build job skills, develop personal discipline, and prepare for a successful return to society after release. “The Minister of Homeland Security’s proposal to expand inmate participation in public maintenance is, in principle, a laudable one,” Gordon said. “Meaningful work has long been recognised as an important component of rehabilitation, helping incarcerated individuals develop skills, instil discipline, and prepare for successful reintegration into society.”

Currently, the Prison Service already runs a range of work programmes for eligible inmates, who must meet strict screening and qualification requirements before being assigned to duties. Before any inmate can be approved for work placement, they must undergo a full medical evaluation to confirm fitness, complete an initial portion of their sentence, and pass a comprehensive risk assessment that evaluates escape risk, gang affiliations, criminal connections, past behavioural records, and overall public threat level.

Approved inmates currently work in on-site prison roles including food service, facility construction and maintenance, vehicle repair at the prison garage, garment production at the in-house tailor shop, agricultural crop production, and care for the prison service’s livestock. “These programmes already provide valuable vocational training while supporting the daily operations of our correctional facilities,” Gordon explained.

Gordon stressed that supervising inmate work crews outside of secured correctional facilities requires a specialized force of trained correctional officers, with the specific skills, experience and resources needed to maintain security, manage inmate behaviour, and respond rapidly to any potential emergency. Public safety, he added, must be the non-negotiable top priority, and cannot be compromised for program expansion.

Reaffirming the Prison Service’s long-standing commitment to rehabilitation and constructive engagement for incarcerated people, Gordon noted that any expansion of inmate work programmes must be rooted in rigorous risk assessment and evidence-based correctional practices. “Every decision regarding inmate employment, whether inside or outside correctional facilities, must be guided first and foremost by comprehensive risk assessment, sound correctional practice, and the overriding responsibility to protect the public,” he said.

A bold social media appeal from Diego Martin’s top local official has ignited a fiery public exchange over long-deferred road repairs, pushing long-simmering infrastructure grievances into the national spotlight. On Wednesday, Akeliah Glasgow-Warner, mayor of the Diego Martin Borough, took to Facebook to share a viral video pleading for urgent intervention from Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Works Jearlean John, opening her clip with a playful nod to the leopard-print skirt she wore specifically to cut through social media noise and draw attention to the crisis plaguing local motorists.

Walking alongside cracked, pothole-ridden streets and pointing out dangerous damage to road surfaces, Glasgow-Warner pushed back against widespread public blame that had fallen on the Diego Martin Borough Corporation (DMBC) for the unresolved issues. She clarified that major highway and arterial road infrastructure, including stretches of the Diego Martin Highway at the center of complaints, falls under the jurisdiction of the national Ministry of Works, not the local borough government. Compounding the challenge, she explained, drastic cuts to local government funding have left the DMBC without the resources to step in even if leaders wanted to address the gaps: each of the borough’s councillors receives just TT$50,000 annually for all district maintenance projects, an amount Glasgow-Warner called insufficient to cover even minor repairs, let alone the years of systemic neglect she says the national ministry has allowed.

“This is not about political points for me. This is about the drivers, the residents who navigate these roads every single day,” Glasgow-Warner emphasized in her video, closing with a direct appeal to John to end the neglect of the Diego Martin area and deploy ministry crews to complete the required repairs.

The minister’s office fired back quickly, rejecting Glasgow-Warner’s accusations as unfounded and shifting blame to the previous national administration, which was led by former Prime Minister Keith Rowley, who also served as the Member of Parliament for Diego Martin for nearly a decade. In a formal statement released through the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure’s (MOWI) communications team, John called the mayor’s claims baseless, noting that the crumbling road surfaces and persistent underground leaks damaging the Diego Martin and St Lucien Roads stem from decades of neglected aging infrastructure that predates her leadership of the ministry.

John countered that unlike the previous administration, which she claims left the area’s basic infrastructure to rot, her current government has prioritized resolving long-backlogged repair projects. She said MOWI has been working in continuous coordination with the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) to map and address leak-related road damage across the country, and confirmed that targeted repair work on Diego Martin’s damaged roads was scheduled to get underway on Thursday, just one day after the mayor’s viral video was posted. “This neglect did not start under my watch, but unlike those who sat back and did nothing for years, this Government is not just talking…we are working!” John’s statement read.

The exchange comes as local governments across Trinidad and Tobago grapple with strained budgets, leaving many unable to address infrastructure projects that technically fall under national jurisdiction, while national agencies often point to limited resources and years of backlog to explain delayed repairs. The viral video has resonated with motorists across the country, many of whom have shared their own stories of dangerous pothole-ridden roads in their own communities.