Rowley presses gov’t on US visa bans

PORT OF SPAIN (CMC):

Former Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has called on the Trinidad and Tobago government to disclose how many citizens have had their United States visas revoked after Washington said visas had been cancelled for reasons including actions that “endangered national security”.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Rowley said there had previously been calls to revoke his US visa, as well as that of former Prime Minister Stuart Young. More recently, he said, leaders of the ruling United National Congress”and others close to them have been warning and threatening the citizens about losing their US visas”.

Rowley said he wished to thank US authorities “for going public to tell the traumatised citizenry in this country the conditions under which visas are revoked”.

He referred to an August 10, 2026, US State Department statement indicating that visas had been revoked from people who violated visa conditions, committed crimes, called for violence against US citizens, defrauded Americans, abused the immigration system or endangered national security.

“‎Today, I want to ask Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar and all the others who made this call and even wrote the US government, calling for the visas of both Stuart Young and Rowley to be cancelled: which of these offences were they guilty of?”

“‎Incidentally, is the prime minister prepared to share with the country which of these offences her close friend and messenger violated, resulting in the cancellation of his visa well before she came into office?”

Rowley also challenged Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar to “tell the country, besides Rowley and Young, how many other citizens she and her government have reported to the US government with a recommendation to have their visas cancelled?”