A DAY after attorneys sent a letter requesting permission for the boatload of migrants involved in a shooting incident with the Coast Guard on the weekend in which a baby was shot dead, to stay in TT pending the outcome of the investigation, 35 of the 39 migrants found on board the have been sent back to Venezuela on Friday.

The migrants were aboard the same vessel as Ya Elvis Santoyo who was killed when coast guard officers opened fired on Saturday night.

The Coast Guard claims the shooting was in self-defence as the vessel tried to ram the Coast Guard boat. The migrants are claiming differently saying there was no warning from the Coast Guard and that after two flares were fired, gunshots rang out.

Santoyo's mother was wounded during the incident and remains warded at the Sangre Grande Hospital.

A media release from the Ministry of National Security confirmed the deportation of the 35 Venezuelans.

The ministry noted that none of the migrants were victims of human trafficking adding that the exercise to send the 35 back home involved the co-operation of the Venezuelan authorities.

On Thursday, one of the attorneys representing the migrants Siddiq Manzano sent a letter seeking a minister's permit from Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds that would allow the migrants to stay in TT until the probe into Santoyo's death was completed.

In the 14-page letter, a copy of which was sent to Newsday, the attorney argued that TT had a responsibility to ensure the safety of people who co-operate with investigations.

They also mentioned that the migrants who were kept at the Chaguaramas Heliport were material witnesses to the shooting incident, adding that their account of what transpired differed from the official version of the Coast Guard.

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